


THE CITIZEN'S LIBRARY OF ECONOMICS, POLITICS 
AND SOCIOLOGY— NEW SERIES 

Edited by RICHARD T. ELY, Ph.D., LL.D. 
Professor of Political Economy in the University of Wisconsin 



THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 



THE CITIZEN'S LIBRARY OF 

ECONOMICS, POLITICS AND 

SOCIOLOGY 

Edited by 
Richard T. Ely, Ph.D., LL.D. 

Professor of Political Economy in the University of 
Wisconsin 



NEW SERIES 

The Progressive Movement. By Ben- 
jamin P. DeWitt, M.A., LL.B 

The Wealth and Income of the People 
of the United States. By Willford I. 
King, Ph.D. In press. 

American Municipal Progress. By Charles 
Zueblin. New, revised and enlarged edi- 
tion. In press. 

The Social Problem. By Charles A. Ell- 
wood, Ph.D. In press. 






PREFACE 

So much, attention has been given to the rise and 
development of the Progressive party in the United 
States that there has been a tendency to overlook the 
larger and more fundamental movement of which it is 
a part. Although this movement had struck its roots 
far back in the past and was already vigorous and grow- 
ing when the campaign of 1912 began, the sudden, 
meteoric appearance of the new party, the striking per- 
sonality of its candidate for President, and the wide 
variety of issues raised, thrust the movement itself into 
the background. The result has been a confusion of the 
party with the movement, a belief that they advocate 
precisely the same principles, and a conviction that they 
must stand or fall together. 

The progressive movement is broader than the Pro- 
gressive party and, in fact, than any single party. It 
is the embodiment and expression of fundamental meas- 
ures and principles of reform that have been advocated 
for many years by all political parties. Although dif- 
ferences in name, in the specific reforms advocated, and 
in the emphasis placed upon them, have obscured the 
identity of the movement, the underlying purposes and 
ideals of the progressive elements of all parties for the 
past quarter of a century have been essentially the 
same. To make clear this universal character of the 
progressive movement is one of the objects for which 
this book has been written. 

vii 



Tiii PEEFACE 

To accomplish that object, a brief survey of the con- 
ditions surrounding the formation of the federal and 
early state constitutions is given, together with an ac- 
count of the political, social, and economic factors that 
have made the rise of the progressive movement natural 
and inevitable. The breadth and extent of the move 
ment are indicated partly by showing the large place it 
has filled and now fills in each of the important political 
parties, and partly by explaining in detail the issues 
and reforms of the movement as they apply to the na- 
tion, the state, and the city. 

The second object of the book is to give form and 
definiteness to a movement which is, in the minds of 
many, confused and chaotic. Unquestionably the great 
majority of voters in this country are dissatisfied with 
existing political and social conditions and desire to see 
a change. Yet the friends of progress are frequently 
the enemies of each other, largely through lack of 
mutual understanding and a failure to realize that they 
stand for practically the same fundamental things. The 
movement has. therefore, been carefully defined as hav- 
ing three distinct phases, and on the basis of these three 
phases the important reforms advocated by progressive 
leaders in the different parties have been classified and 
correlated. Although it would be impossible to discuss 
all these measures exhaustively without losing the per- 
spective of the book, prominent reforms such as mothers' 
pensions, the minimum wage, preferential voting, and 
the city manager plan, have received sufficient attention 
to enable the reader to know what they are. the extent 
to which they have been adopted, and the arguments 
co mm only advanced for and against each. 

The point of view throughout has been non-partisan, 
but the spirit of treatment, it must be said, has been 
sympathetic. Xo one can study the progressive move- 



PREFACE ix 

ment, no one can read the lives of its pioneers and advo- 
cates without feeling its strength and vitality and realiz- 
ing that it is a potent force in our political and social 
life. War and business depression may divert the atten- 
tion of people from progressive reforms for a time. But, 
sooner or later, that attention will return, more earnest 
and more intense, and the principles of the movement 
will receive a new emphasis and a wider application. 

Benjamin P. De Witt. 
Elmhurst, N. Y., 
February 3, 1915. 



r 



PAKT I 

THE OKIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
PKOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 



CHAPTEK I 

THE MEANING AND HISTORY OF THE PROGRESSIVE 
MOVEMENT 

The term "progressive movement" has been so widely 
used, so much discussed, and so differently interpreted 
that any exposition of its meaning and principles, to 
be adequate, must be prefaced by careful definition. 
To some — comparatively few — the progressive move- 
ment stands for the attempt of one man, disappointed 
in his efforts to control his political party, to found 
another and return himself to power. To others, who 
are willing to concede that the movement is not confined 
to a single leader, it represents the efforts of a small 
body of self-seeking politicians to gain position and 
influence by making capital of a movement that is tem- 
porarily popular. To others, the movement expresses 
the effort of a few sincere but misguided enthusiasts to 
carry out an impossible and chimerical program of 
social reform through government and legislation. 
Some believe that the movement is partisan, limited to 
the party that bears its name; others believe that it is 
broader than any single party and that its supporters 
are found in political parties everywhere. Some be- 
lieve it is new, fleeting, and evanescent, destined to dis- 
appear quickly from our political life ; others hold that 
it is permanent, deep-seated, and fundamental, involv- 
ing a modification and readjustment of our political 
theories and institutions. 



4 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

Whatever difference of opinion may exist concerning 
the meaning of the progressive movement, every think- 
ing man and woman must be convinced that the nation 
to-day is passing through a severe political crisis. 
After a period of unprecedented industrial and com- 
mercial expansion, during which time little or no atten- 
tion has been given to the problems of government, the 
people have suddenly realized that government is not 
functioning properly and that radical changes are 
needed. [Manifestations of this excitement and unrest 
are seen on every hand. Men write of a new democ- 
racy 1 and a new freedom. 2 In 1912 the vote of the 
Socialist party — the party of protest against existing 
conditions — almost reached the million mark; and in 
the same year a new political party, appealing to new 
ideals and new standards, polled four million votes. 
The Democratic party in the nation, after a stormy 
convention, nominated and elected as President, in 1912. 
a leader who insists upon high standards of public 
service; and the Republican party, chastened by defeat. 
and forced to recognize the present political tendencies, 
has already set about the work of party regeneration in 
many states. Everywhere there are evidences that the 
nation has passed into a new political era. 

In this widespread political agitation that at first 
sight seems so incoherent and chaotic, there may be 
distinguished upon examination and analysis three 
tendencies. The first of these tendencies is found 
in the insistence by the best men in all political parties 
that special, minority, and corrupt influence in gov- 
ernment — national, state, and city — be removed; the 
second tendency is found in the demand that the struc- 
ture or machinery of government, which has hitherto 

1 Weyl, IJi€ New Democracy, 
'Wilson, The New Freedom. 



MEANING AND HISTORY 5 

been admirably adapted to control by the few, be so 
changed and modified that it will be more difficult 
for the few, and easier for the many, to control; and, 
finally, the third tendency is found in the rapidly grow- 
ing conviction that the functions of government at pres- 
ent are too restricted and that they must be increased 
and extended to relieve social and economic distress. 
These three tendencies with varying emphasis are seen 
to-day in the platform and program of every political 
party ; they are manifested in the political changes and 
reforms that are advocated and made in the nation, the 
states, and the cities ; and, because of their universality 
and definiteness, they may be said to constitute the real 
progressive movement. 

To understand the origin and development of the 
progressive movement, it is necessary to consider briefly 
the circumstances surrounding the formation of the fed- 
eral constitution in 1787. The men who framed that 
constitution had to decide two questions: first, how 
many and what functions government, as opposed to 
the individual, should be allowed to exercise; and, sec- 
ondly, what power should control the exercise of these 
functions. 

Now, at the time our federal constitution was adopted, 
there were at least three reasons why the people desired 
as little interference as possible by the government in 
the affairs of the individual. In the first place, the 
colonists had just finished a war with England, a war 
which it is ordinarily supposed was justified as a pro- 
test against taxation without representation, but which 
was rather a desire to get rid of a government that was 
becoming irksome. The colonists appealed to the in- 
herent right of man to be free. After emerging from 
a long and severe struggle to rid themselves of one gov- 
ernment, they were not in the mood to impose upon 



(J THE PEOGRESS1TE MOVEMENT 

tlieriiselves another. They had had enough govern- 
ment; they would see now what the individual could 
do. 

A second reason for limiting the powers of the gov- 
ernment is to be found in the political theory prevalent 
at that time. Eousseau 1 had proclaimed the superiority 
of the individual over the state and attempted to explain 
how the state received its power originally. Man was 
originally, according to Eousseau. in a state of nature. 
He was free in all respects. Necessity compelled him 
to yield his individual liberty to the state, but even then 
he and his fellows were entitled to absolute control of 
the state. The theory of Rousseau became widely popu- 
lar. The individual was apotheosized. In America, 
Paine wrote "Common Sense"' and "The Eights of 
^ian/ ? both imbued with the doctrine of Rousseau. 
Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, with 
its insistence on individual liberties. Of Jefferson's 
opinion on the extension of the powers of the state, one 
of his biographers says : "He could hardly bring him- 
self to declare that the people should govern, because 
lie had a lurking notion that there should be no govern- 
ment at all. 'The rights of man." the favorite slang 
phrase of the day. signified to his mind an almost entire 
absence of governmental control. ' ? 2 The political phil- 
osophy of the day was laissez-faire. 

A third and final reason why men restricted the pow- 
ers of the state was the needlessness of governmental 
interference. In most cases, the individual could take 
care of himself. The men in the country at that time 
were the boldest and most self-reliant that Europe had 
contained. They would have scoffed at the idea of hav- 
ing any superior power tell them how long they ought 

1 In Ms Control Social. 

3 Morse, Thomas Jefferson, p. 111. The italics are mine. 



MEANING AND HISTORY 7 

to work and what pay they ought to receive. Then, too, 
social and economic conditions allowed individual action. 
In 1790 only six cities had 8,000, and only two, 25,000 
inhabitants. Land was plentiful; the great West with 
all its opportunities for wealth-making was unexplored. 
~No wonder the colonists felt confident in their own abil- 
ity to take care of themselves ; no wonder they despised 
government and felt within them the thrill and inspira- 
tion of a new freedom. 

When we approach the second important question 
which the colonists had to decide ; i. e., by whom the ex- 
ercise of governmental functions should be controlled, 
we find no end of confusion. The colonists, we have 
seen, decided that government, as opposed to the indi- 
vidual, should exercise as few functions as possible. 
When they came to decide into what hands the exer- 
cise of these few governmental powers should be placed, 
two possibilities offered themselves. One was to place 
the people, in a fairly broad sense, in control ; the other 
was to place in power a small minority which, protected 
from the clamor of the people by numerous checks and 
balances, would govern in the interests of the best citi- 
zens. There is no reason why men should divide on this 
second question exactly as they do on the first. A man 
may believe in extending the power of the state over 
many functions now exercised exclusively by the indi- 
vidual and still be opposed to allowing a majority of 
the people to direct the exercise of those functions. Ger- 
many to-day is perhaps the most paternalistic of na- 
tions; it is far from being the most democratic. And 
the men back in 1787 did not divide in the same way 
on both questions nor lay equal emphasis upon them. 
Hamilton believed in the rule of the minority, and yet 
he did not advocate and in fact could not advocate (be- 
cause there was no need) any great extension of gov- 



8 THE PBOGBESSIYE MOVE^IENT 

erninental powers. Jefferson believed that the people- 
should be given control and yet believed that in an ideal 
state there would be no government at all. So far as 
restricting government to the exercise of a few func- 
tions is concerned, Hamilton and Jefferson were not 
very far apart: so far as the method of exercising the 
functions necessarily assumed by government is con- 
cerned, they were as far apart as the pole.?. In a word, 
in ITS 7. most men agreed in opposing any extension of 
the functions of government : they differed in their 
views as to the way in which the necessary modicum of 
government should be controlled. 

The subject has been much beclouded because of the 
fact that in ITS 7 a new government was being formed. 
The colonies sent delegates to a convention to determine 
what governmental functions should be exercised by the 
new government. The questions that arose in that con- 
vention were not questions of the extension or restric- 
tion of the powers of government. They were questions 
cd the extension or restriction of the powers of a par- 
ticular government. They were questions concerning 
the division of powers between a government about to 
be formed and governments already existing. When we 
speak of Alexander Hamilton as favoring a strong gov- 
ernment we do not mean that Hamilton wished to allow 
the state to control matters up to that time controlled 
by individuals ; we mean that Hamilton wished to take 
power from the separate colonies and confer it upon a 
central government. Hamilton's plan for a national 
government ''"embodied two ideas which were its car- 
dinal features and which went to the very heart of the 
whole matter. The republic of Hamilton was to be an 
aristocratic as distinguished from a democratic repub- 
lic, and the power of the separate states was to be exec- 



MEANING AND HISTOEY 9 

tually crippled." * Of the three great compromises 
of the constitution, between agricultural and com- 
mercial stages, between large and small states, and be- 
tween free and slave states, not one concerned the ques- 
tion of extending the influence of government generally. 

The fight, then, in the constitutional convention was 
not over the extension of the functions of government, 
but over the method of controlling the functions to be 
exercised. On this point, there was great diversity of 
opinion. Of the three forms of government, the mon- 
archy, the aristocracy, and the democracy, the last found 
the least favor. ". . . The fathers of the American 
Federal Republic . . . over and over again betray their 
regret that the only government which it was possible 
for them to establish was one which promised so little 
stability" 2 (i.e., a democracy). Hamilton favored a 
king, and most of the others favored some sort of aris- 
tocracy. a The evidence is overwhelming that the men 
who sat in that convention had no faith in the wisdom 
or political capacity of the people." 3 Jefferson, the 
prophet of the people, was not even there. The con- 
vention turned out a constitution calculated to give to 
a select minority the guidance of the destinies of the 
nation. 

The federal constitution, therefore, provides for a 
government which shall touch the life of the individual 
at as few points as possible and which shall be domi- 
nated by a minority. The government then formed for 
the nation reflected the existing state governments as 
far as the extension of the powers of the state is con- 
cerned. It was not a true reflection, however, of the 
sentiment of the mass of people in the states as to the 

1 Lodge, Alexander Hamilton, p. 61. 

2 Maine, Progress of Popular Government, p. 71. 
"Smith, Spirit of American Government, p. 32. 



10 THE PEOGBESSIVE MOVEMENT 

method of control. Democracy was much more in evi- 
dence in the separate states than it could be under the 
elaborate system of checks and balances of the federal 
constitution. '"'Had the decision been left to what is 
now called 'the voice of the people/' that is, to the mass 
of the citizens all over the country, voting at the polls, 
the voice of the people would probably have pronounced 
against the Constitution . . ." * 

Although the state governments were more demo- 
cratic than the federal government, their democracy 
was not above suspicion. It was at best a diluted de- 
mocracy, of the sort of which Periclean Athens was 
proud. Throughout the thirteen colonies there were 
thousands of slaves ; most of the colonies imposed some 
property qualifications before granting the suffrage; 
in some colonies, profession of some religion was essen- 
tial to holding office. 2 The quality of the democracy 
in the states is revealed fairly well by a glance 
at some of the early constitutions. That of Mas- 
sachusetts, adopted in 1780, in its preamble, states that 
''the body politic is formed by a voluntary association of 
individuals : it is a social compact, by which the whole 
people covenants with each citizen, and each citizen 
with the whole people, that all shall be governed by cer- 
tain laws for the common good." The same constitu- 
tion provides that "every male inhabitant of twenty- 
one years of age and upwards, having a freehold estate 
within the commonwealth, of the annual income of three 
pounds, or any estate of the value of sixty pounds, shall 
have a right to give in his vote for the senators for the 
district of which he is an inhabitant.'' 3 The same 
qualifications had to be met by voters for representa- 

^•Bryce, American Commonwealth. Vol. I, p. 26. 
z McMaster 3 With the Fathers, p. 72. 

3 In Chap. I, Sec. 2, Art. 2. 



MEANING AND HISTORY H 

tives and governor. In the constitution of North Caro- 
lina, the statement is made "that all political power is 
vested in and derived from the people only." * The 
people are somewhat narrowly defined, however, as 
those who are possessed of a freehold of fifty acres of 
land and those who have paid public taxes. In most of 
the early state constitutions, there are similar incon- 
sistent provisions which declare that the state is gov- 
erned by the people and that the people are those who 
own property or pay taxes. 

When the United States, then, began its career as a 
nation, the federal constitution, the state constitutions, 
and even the people themselves were opposed to any 
extension of the powers of government over the indi- 
vidual. General sentiment favored a minimum of gov- 
ernment. As to who should control that minimum, 
opinion differed. A few favored control by a select 
minority. These few accomplished their aim as far as 
the federal government was concerned by introducing 
into the constitution checks and balances which made 
popular control impossible. Most men, however, fa- 
vored a rather broad popular control ; and they made 
their influence felt in the state constitutions by provid- 
ing for a fair measure of democracy. 

Nothing indicates more clearly that the framers of 
the federal constitution did not believe that the func- 
tions of government were going to be extended to any 
great extent than their failure to provide for political 
parties. They feared factions and parties, but they 
thought that they had effectually guarded against them. 
Like the proverbial ostrich, they stuck their heads in 
the sand and refused to see the approaching danger. 
The parties soon came ; men did not look upon the gov- 
ernment with the same disinterestedness that the Fa- 



12 THE PEOGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

thers had hoped for. They meant to use the govern- 
ment. The plans for using the government were for a 
long time indefinite and unorganized. For the most 
part, men were interested in gaining a place of honor 
and profit with now and then a chance to "make a haul." 

The first party to come into power was the Federalist. 
Its leader was Hamilton and its ranks contained Wash- 
ington, Adams, and Marshall. It is often said that the 
Federalists stood for an extension of the functions of 
government and a larger control of the individual. Such 
statements are only partly true. At that time there was 
little need for much governmental interference in pri- 
vate affairs. There was great need of strengthening the 
central government, and to that end the Federalists bent 
most of their efforts. The Federalists, however, firmly 
believed in the domination of government by the few 
rather than by the many. The decisions of John ^Mar- 
shall as chief justice of the Supreme Court did more 
to intrench property and vested interests behind the 
bulwarks of law than any other single factor. Two 
things, then, the Federalists particularly emphasized: 
that the central government should be strong and that 
it should be controlled in the interests of the few. 

The Republican-Democrats, or Democrats, who came 
into power in 1801, and retained control of the govern- 
ment with slight interruptions 1 until the Civil War, 
opposed the tendency to strengthen the national govern- 
ment and in fact opposed all government. To them 
government was a necessary evil, and the less there was 
of it the better. They therefore fought the central bank 
and the protective tariff and advocated non-interference 
in the question of slavery. Although the Democrats of 
this period believed in non-use of government to relieve 

1 Harrison and Tyler, 1841-1845: Taylor and Fillmore, 1849- 
1853. 



MEANING AND HISTOBY 13 

the individual, ^hey perfected one profitable use to 
which government might be put. Under Jackson, the 
spoils system, until that time a mere seed in a fertile 
soil, broke through and grew to enormous proportions, 
giving shade under its luxuriant foliage to the weary 
and oppressed mob of officeholders. The Democrats, 
then, tried to curtail federal powers, and in fact all gov- 
ernmental powers, and sought to give the masses rather 
than the classes control. 

In 1856, slavery was the chief question before the 
country. The tariff, the currency, and all other ques- 
tions sank into insignificance as the people tremblingly 
sought the solution of a problem that threatened speedy 
national disruption. The Democrats supported a policy 
of non-interference by the national authority, squatter 
sovereignty. On the ashes of the Whig party, burned 
and charred by fiery internal dissensions, arose the Re- 
publican party, a party pledged to the control of slavery 
by federal enactment. The Civil War came* Lincoln 
stretched the federal authority to limits before unheard 
of and undreamed of. The seceding states were drawn 
back into the Union by force; millions of slaves were 
freed by presidential proclamation; federal authority 
was supreme. 

At the close of the war, the Democratic party, the 
party that advocated limited federal powers, lay pros- 
trate, discredited, the party of rebellion. The Repub- 
licans, unmolested, began to build up a strong party 
organization. All things were favorable to the preemp- 
tion of the government. The temptation was not long 
in coming. It had come before the war even. Rail- 
roads sprang up all over the country; industrial cor- 
porations of Brobdingnagian proportions put in their 
appearance. Strong men were behind the railroads and 
the corporations ; they were also behind the Republican 



14 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

party. Here was an opportunity to extend the powers 
of government — to use government. Here was a gov- 
ernment designed by its makers to be controlled by a 
wealthy minority. The wealthy minority were not slow 
in seizing the opportunity. Land grants, franchise 
steals, favorable court decisions, supple politicians, ap- 
peared in a bewildering array. Long before the country 
realized it, the government was being used — not in the 
interests of the many, but in the interests of the few. 

Meanwhile, the same complex conditions that were 
bringing wealth to the magnate and the railroad king 
were bringing difficult social and economic problems to 
the masses of people. Mushroom cities sprang up over 
night ; thousands who had worked independently before 
now worked as units in a complex organization. The 
individual could not hope to compete with the wealthy 
corporation which employed him; and his particular 
product was almost worthless apart from the use to 
which the corporation might put it. Men became eco- 
nomic slaves. Corporations could make them work 
twelve, fifteen, or even eighteen hours a day; could 
place them in factories poorly lighted and poorly venti- 
lated; could reduce wages to a minimum; could, in 
short, control them. Slowly, Americans realized that 
they were not free. 

Instinctively, men turned to each other for support. 
They did not at first turn to the government for re- 
lief. They were still under the delusion that the gov- 
ernment was a dispassionate, fair arbiter ; and that was 
what they desired it to be. The workmen of the country 
tried to fight their own fight. They formed labor 
unions and attempted to force all those engaged in a cer- 
tain craft to join. Capitalists had joined together: 
labor would join together, too ; and united labor would 
oppose a solid front to united capital. 



MEANING AND HISTORY 15 

But the fight was too unequal. Capital, wealth, and 
the corporations did not play fair. The government was 
theirs and they used it with deadly effect. They se- 
cured what their opponents bitterly called government 
by injunction; they had laws limiting the number of 
hours a day a man might work declared unconstitu- 
tional; they fought factory regulation. Meanwhile, 
they strengthened their own resources. Stolen fran- 
chises were ratified; inflated capitalization was given 
legal confirmation ; the tariff was adjusted to meet their 
needs. 

The idea that permanent relief from oppressive con- 
ditions could be obtained only through governmental in- 
tervention slowly gained ground. Those who proposed 
the idea at first were called revolutionists and socialists 
and were regarded as visionaries. Soon, however, the 
government was appealed to in various ways to change 
existing conditions. Railroads could be curbed by com- 
missions, the tariff could be lowered, corporations could 
be dissolved, incomes could be taxed. The people were 
under the delusion that they owned the government; 
they had used it little: now, they thought, it would 
have to succor them. Government and legislation would 
bring in the millennium. 

Singularly enough, the government was not sensitive 
to popular appeal. Sometimes, indeed, it openly defied 
the people. For a long time, the people could not realize 
what had happened — the people could not understand 
that their government had passed beyond their control* 
They came to the government which they had made, 
intending to use it, and they found that it was already 
in use. 

The people paused in their search for remedial legis- 
lation to discover what was wrong with their govern- 
ment. They found that the government was run in 



16 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

strict accordance with the famous cV'ctirrn attributed 
to Andrew Jackson, "To the victor belong the spoils." 
Incompetent, self-seeking, venal politicians were direct- 
ing the affairs of the country. The people began to 
study the origin, history, and effect of the spoils system. 
They found that the spoils system had not always ex- 
isted. The revolutionary presidents made honesty, 
capability, and fidelity the tests of fitness. "With Jack- 
son's administration in 1S30, the deluge of the spoils 
system burst over our national politics." x As time 
went on and the number of offices increased, the system 
grew worse. Startling disclosures of dishonesty were 
made in Grant's administration. Some of the Presi- 
dent's secretaries were found guilty of bribery and cor- 
ruption. General Babcock, the President's private sec- 
retary, narrowly escaped conviction on the charge of 
corruptly aiding the TVhisky Eing to avoid the pay- 
ment of revenues. It was proved that Belknap, Secre- 
tary of TTar. had received a portion of an annual pay- 
ment of from six to twelve thousand dollars of bribe 
money given by a post trader at Fort Sill to retain his 
place. 2 The people clamored for reform. In response 
to the popular cry for civil service reform, based upon 
the belief that much of the corruption in government 
had its basis in the spoils system. President Grant in 
IS 71 appointed a commission to investigate the subject. 
A second commission was appointed in IS S3. Backed 
by popular sentiment, these and succeeding commis- 
sions placed under the protection of civil service hun- 
dreds of thousands of government employees. 

The search for the source of special influence in gov- 
ernment soon passed from individual corruption in 

1 Curtis. Speech on Spoils Svstem, Harper's Encyclopaedia of 
United States History. Vol. 2. 

2 Hart, The American Nation — A History, Vol. 22, pp. 2S1 et seq. 



MEANING AND HISTORY 17 

other direction?.. Eailroads began to be searchingly 
investigated. T t was time attention was directed toward 
the railroads and their relation to special influence in 
government. "The progress of the construction of rail- 
roads in the United States was comparatively slow until 
assistance was granted by Congress. This was given 
under the form of donations of the public lands, for the 
first time, in 1850." * The first of these grants of land 
was made to the Illinois Central, and embraced 2,595,- 
053 acres. Between 1850 and 1870 the total area 
granted to roads through the various states exceeded 
60,000,000 acres. In addition to these grants, exten- 
sive grants were made later to the three Pacific rail- 
roads. These latter amounted to 135,000,000 acres or 
about 200,000 square miles. 

The mania for building railroads and granting lands 
abated somewhat about 1875, and people began to direct 
their attention to the control of the roads already in 
existence. As far back as 1852 we find a provision in 
the platform of a minor political party, the Free Soil 
Democrats, "that the public lands of the United States 
belong to the people, and should not be sold to indi- 
viduals nor granted to corporations." These protests 
continued until finally all the important parties joined 
in the protest against any further grants. In a con- 
vention of the National Association of Transportation 
and Commerce held in Chicago in 1875, the vice-presi- 
dent of the association in his opening address empha- 
sized the need of inquiring "whether there is less dan- 
ger in leaving the property and industrial interests of 
the people thus wholly at the mercy of a few men who 
recognize no responsibility but to their stockholders and 
no principle of action but personal and corporate ag- 
grandizement, than in adding somewhat to the power 

1 Appleton's American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1871, pp. 672 et seq. 



18 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

and patronage of a government directly responsible to 
the people, and entirely under their control." * The 
convention appointed a committee of seven to present 
their resolution to Congress. The resolution provided 
generally for national supervision of rates, capitaliza- 
tion, passes, etc. 

Meanwhile, the states were taking similar action. 
In 1879 the State Grange at a meeting held at Mont- 
pelier, Vermont, framed and sent a set of resolutions 
to Congress asking relief from ''the giant monopolies." 
In 1871 Illinois had passed a law creating the Eailroad 
and Warehouse Co mm ission. 2 In speaking of the rea- 
sons for the appointment of that commission, the gov- 
ernor, in a message to the state legislature, said : ''They 
(the railroads) discriminated against persons and 
places. Citizens protested against these abuses in vain. 
The railroad corporations, when threatened with the 
power of the government, indulged in the language of 
defiance, and attempted to control legislation to their 
own advantage. At last, public indignation became ex- 
cited against them. They did not heed it : they be- 
lieved that the courts would be their refuge from popu- 
lar fury.*' 

The 'form of control usually adopted by the states 
was that of a commission to regulate rates and other 
matters connected with the railroads. The first of these 
state commissions was appointed in Massachusetts in 
1869. Then came the Illinois Commission in 1871. 
Iowa. Minnesota, and Wisconsin soon followed. The 
railroads appealed to the highest courts in the states to 
declare the laws regulating rates unconstitutional. 
When they were defeated in the states, they carried 

1 Appleton 's American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1875, p. 672. The 
last part of the statement is very naive. 
3 1~bid., 1879, p. 483. 



MEANING AND HISTORY 



19 



their cases to the United States Supreme Court, only to 
be again defeated in a famous line of decisions known as 
the "Granger Cases." * 

State regulation, of necessity, proved ineffectual. 
Many of the largest and most offensive railroads did 
business in several states and could not be controlled 
by state laws or state commissions. An appeal was 
therefore made to Congress to pass a law providing for 
a commission similar to the various state commissions 
to control interstate commerce as the individual states 
controlled intra-state commerce. In the House of Rep- 
resentatives on January 5, 1881, the bill to establish a 
board of commissioners of interstate commerce was 
taken up. The bill apparently had few advocates and 
many opponents. The activity of the railroad interests 
was everywhere apparent. Mr. Reagan, representative 
from Texas, in closing his speech in favor of federal 
control^ but not in favor of a commission, said : "I 
know, sir, in all preceding discussion here in this House, 
in our committee, in the committee of the Senate, the 
lawyers and managers of railroads have attempted U 
confuse this subject by saying that members of Con- 
gress, by their vocation, were not qualified to regulate 
railroad traffic. . . . They have said that none can do 
it but experts. God deliver this country if its interests 
are placed in the hands of railroad experts, in the in- 
terest of railroad companies, under the dictation of rail- 
road officers!" 2 The account of the debate in Con- 
gress closes with the significant words, "Subsequently, 
on March 1st, the House refused further to consider 
the bill." 3 

In the first session of the Forty-ninth Congress, 

1 94 U. S., pp. 113 et seq. 

2 Appleton's American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1881, p. 176. 

z Ibid. 



20 THE PKOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

which convened llonday, Dec. 7, 1885, as usual, a bill 
to regulate interstate commerce came up, and as usual 
no final action was taken. 1 The next Tear, however, 
the opposition had to yield. A bill providing for an In- 
terstate Commerce Commission to control common car- 
riers engaged in interstate commerce passed through 
Congress in that year. The act has since been substan- 
tial^ amended and made more effective, but even then 
it was a great step in advance. It is significant that 
among those who opposed the measure to the very end 
were Senator Aldrich of Ehode Island, Senator Evarts 
of Xew York, and Senator Hoar of Massachusetts. 2 
/ The passage of the Interstate Commerce Act and the 
appointment of the Interstate Commerce Commission 
marked the end of the first period of the attacks of the 
people upon the railroads as the chief source of organ- 
ized corruption. An investigation into the railroads 
had revealed startling causes of their corruption and 
malpractices and showed that they were at least as 
much sinned against as sinning. The gigantic indus- 
trial corporations, of which the Standard Oil Company 
was the first to occupy a conspicuous place, had in many 
instances forced the railroads to discriminate in their 
faTor. A company like the Standard Oil Company 
could easily exact any favors. Backed by its powerful 
interests, it could say to a recalcitrant railroad, "Yon 
must carry our oil on our terms if you carry it at all. 
/And if you do not wish to carry it, we will build a rail- 
road or a pipe line of our own and run you out of busi- 
ness." And, in some instances, they made good their 
threat. Too often, however, the railroads yielded to 
their demands and the most shameful discrimination re- 
sulted. <the cry against trusts and monopolies had long 

1 Appleton's American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1886, p. 264. 

2 Ibid., 1887, p. 177. For provisions of this act, ibid., p. 173. 



MEANING AND HISTORY 21 

since been raised. They were denounced in some of the 
early state constitutions. (But the idea that the gov- 
ernment should oversee industrial corporations and di- 
rect their affairs was repugnant to the minds of a people 
who favored as little government as possible. It was 
therefore not strange that Congress did not pass until 
1890 a law forbidding combinations in restraint of 
trade. 

While the people were engaged in the search for cor- 
ruption and its sources, the need of governmental inter- 
ference to relieve social conditions became more and 
more pressing. In order to pass laws of this kind, the 
people had found it necessary to find and remove the 
corrupt influences which had so vigorously opposed any 
ameliorative measures. They now found it necessary, 
in order to keep out this corrupt influence and at the 
same time to make the government more responsive to 
their demands, to modify it in many important particu- 
lars. These modifications of the machinery of govern- 
ment constitute the second of the three phases of the 
progressive movement. 

The point at which the government was most 
vulnerable under the attacks of special interests was 
in the elections known as the primaries. ( The pri- 
mary elections, strangely enough, have always been con- 
sidered secondary. ^They were, for a long time, uncon- 
trolled by law. Some agency had to control them, and 
the extra-legal agency, the political party, acting 
through the political boss, with astonishing unselfish- 
ness, undertook the task which had been unprovided for 
by the law. I These primary elections determined who 
was to control the party) who were to be the delegates to 
the various conventions which nominated men for office. 
The easiest and least expensive method of controlling 
the government was to control the man who controlled 



22 THE PEOGEESSIYE MOVEMENT 

the primaries. That man could control the selection of 
delegates; and, by consequence, the delegates them- 
selves. The delegates controlled the nominations and 
therefore the nominees. The nominees — the governor, 
the legislators, the judges — controlled the government. 

If the corrupting interests failed to dominate the pri- 
maries ; if candidates, by some miracle, were nominated 
who were known to oppose them, the next step was to 
prevent the election of these candidates. The ways of 
accomplishing this result were many. If necessary, 
men could be bought to vote against the dangerous can- 
didate. But such extremes were not always necessary. 
The newspapers could be induced to print scurrilous 
attacks upon the integrity of the candidate. His past 
record could be interpreted in a malign way. He 
could, in general, be discredited in the minds of people 
too little informed to know the real merits of the case 
and too busy to care. 

But if the candidate, in spite of all his opponents 
could contrive, succeeded in winning, the special inter- 
ests might be supposed to be at the end of their rope. 
Far from it. The next step was to prevent any law 
injurious to their welfare from passing through the 
legislature. As the student of American government 
knows, practically all important measures are referred 
to committees to be discussed and reported. To cor- 
rupt some member of the committee, to induce the com- 
mittee by specious arguments advanced by well-trained 
and well-paid lawyers, to ''kill the bill" by not report- 
ing it, was not always impossible. If the committee and 
the legislature proved intractable and impervious to 
gold and favors, the governor might be induced to see 
things in the right light. Unfortunately, not even our 
governors have been wholly free from suspicion. 

If by some accident the special interests lost in the 



MEANING AND HISTORY 23 

primaries, in the elections, in the legislature, and in the 
governor's office, there still remained the courts. Under 
our peculiar system of government, courts have the 
power to declare laws unconstitutional. The state 
courts are first appealed to. If, after long litigation, 
they decide against the special interests, the case may, 
if the federal constitution is involved, be taken to the 
federal courts. The constitution of the United States 
has been twisted, mutilated, rendered almost absurd in 
some instances, to allow special interests to appeal from 
state to federal courts. The fourteenth amendment, 
an amendment primarily concerned with the negro 
problem, has under the powerful alchemy of the well- 
paid corporation and railroad lawyers, been trans- 
formed into a bulwark of the corporations. 

Special interests, then, have seized the government 
at these different points, and reformers before they can 
enact laws in the interests of the people must strengthen 
the government at these points. (To wrest government 
from the hands of the bosses and corrupt interests and 
keep it free, it is proposed to use direct ^primaries, a 
system which allows the people directly to nominate 
their candidates for office. To diminish the power of 
the special interests to defeat a good candidate, corrupt 
practices acts are being passed. In some states an at- 
tempt is being made to control the newspapers by re- 
quiring them to mark as advertising any political mat- 
ter which they print for money, together with the source 
of the material. It has been proposed to compel the 
newspapers to publish any article which is of vital in- 
terest to a reasonably large portion of the population. 
Under some plans, the state itself enables the candidate 
to print at public expense arguments in his favor. To 
abolish the domination of the legislature by special in- 
terests, reform in legislative procedure has been sug- 



24 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

gested ; and better still, in many states, the people them- 
selves, whether the legislature wills it or not, are being 
given the power to pass laws which they desire and to 
reject those which they do not. The governmental device 
which gives the people the right to pass laws over the 
head of the legislature is called the initiative; that 
which enables them to reject laws is known as the ref- 
erendum. If the legislators continue to display too 
great apathy toward the interests of the people and too 
great predilection for the special interests, a device 
known as the recall is used to expel the legislators. The 
recall may be used also to remove from office any execu- 
tive officials who are tainted through too close contact 
with the privilege-seeking class; to control unfaithful 
judges; and, perhaps even more important, to recall 
judicial decisions that declare a law unconstitutional. 
With these and other similar measures in effective oper- 
ation, a great step will have been taken toward removing 
permanently organized corrupt influence from govern- 
ment and toward making the machinery of government 
more responsive to the people. 

The third and last phase of the movement has to do 
with the extension of the functions of government — 
city, state, and national — to relieve, as far as possible, 
the distress caused by social and economic conditions. 
Many persons think that the progressive movement pro- 
poses to usher in the millennium by legislation. Xoth- 
ing could be farther from the minds of the men and 
women who call themselves progressive. What they do 
propose to do is to bring the United States abreast of 
Germany and other European countries in the matter of 
remedial legislation. They propose to regulate the em- 
ployment of women and children in factories ; to impose 
a maximum number of hours of work a day for men 
under certain conditions ; to provide for workingmen in 



MEANING AND HISTORY 25 

their old age and for their widows and orphans when 
their support is taken from them; to reduce or re- 
move the tariff and substitute in its stead a system of 
taxation which will fall most heavily on those best able 
to bear it ; to adopt a minimum wage law to strengthen 
the needy against temptation; to strike at poverty, 
crime, and disease; to do everything that government 
can do to make our country better, nobler, purer, and 
life more worth living. 



CHAPTER II 

THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN THE DEMOCRATIC 
PARTY 

The progressive movement in the Democratic party 
began as a well-designed and well-intentioned attempt 
to prevent special interests from continuing to use the 
national government for their own selfish purposes. It 
was well-designed because it aimed to array and in a 
measure did array, for the first time, laborers against 
capitalists, employed against employers, the poor against 
the rich, on the specific proposition that silver should 
not be demonetized because it would result to the ad- 
vantage of capitalists and bankers and to the disadvan- 
tage of laborers and farmers. It was well-intentioned 
because^Bryan and his followers sincerely and honestly 
believed that the advocates of monometalism wished to 
enrich themselves with the aid of government at the ex- 
pense of the masses and that the first steps in restoring 
government to the people was to provide a monetary 
system that would supply credit and currency to all on 
equal terms. (Although the progressive movement be- 
gan in the Democratic party over the money question, 
its significance was far deeper than that. If the issue 
of monometalism and free silver had never arisen, the 
movement undoubtedly would have started over any 
one of a hundred other issues such as railroads, cor- 
porations, etc., all centering around the one great issue 

26 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY 27 

that government is to be used, not for the few, but for 
the many. Because of the silver issue, it came in the 
Democratic party earlier than it otherwise would, since 
free silver was a cry which rallied many poorly organ- 
ized, conflicting parties and associations ; and because of 
the free silver issue the success of the movement in the 
party came later than it otherwise would, since, when 
the free silver propaganda was rejected, not only that 
issue, but all issues for which the progressive elements 
stood were discredited for a long time. 

For the purpose of this discussion the development of 
the progressive movement in the Democratic party may 
be divided into three periods, with the year 1893 mark- 
ing the end of the first and the year 1912 the end of 
the second. The first period may fitly be called a period 
of preparation, since during the period from the Civil 
War to 1893 the forces of discontent and protest that 
were later to furnish strength to the progressive Demo- 
crats were forming and finding themselves, and in that 
same period the question of free silver, on which these 
forces were to unite, was becoming more and more acute. 

One of the first of these forces of protest and re- 
volt that later joined the progressive Democrats, ap- 
peared in 1868 under the name of the Greenback 
party. The men in this party believed that much 
of the distress of the country was caused by strin- 
gency of the currency and advocated the continu- 
ance in use of the "greenbacks" that had come into ex- 
istence during the war. Failing to get a hearing for 
their ideas with either of the two older parties, the ad- 
vocates of the "greenbacks" formed a party of their 
own and held a national convention in 1876. In its 
platform the party stated that a a United States note, is- 
sued directly by the government, and convertible on de- 
mand into United States obligations, bearing a rate of 



28 THE PEOGEESSIYE MOVEMENT 

interest not exceeding one cent a day on each one hun- 
dred dollars, and exchangeable for United States notes 
at par. will afford the best circulating medium ever de- 
vised,'" 1 Although the Greenback party had no subse- 
quent history, it is important because it was the prede- 
cessor of the Populist party which united with the 
Democrats in support of Bryan and free silver in IS 9 6. 

Another protest against existing conditions came in 
IS 72. when the Labor Reform party was organized. 
"The convention of the new party," says Wilson, 2 
"had been made up chiefly of trades union bosses and 
political free lances, but it had brought delegates to- 
gether out of seventeen states and was an unmistakable 
sign of the times. The workingmen of the country were 
about to bestir themselves to make their power felt in 
the choices of government and law." 

By IS Si monopolies had attracted such general and 
widespread attention that a party, calling itself the 
Anti-Monopoly party, was organized. This party pro- 
posed that "corporations, the creatures of law. should be 
controlled by law:" that "it is the duty of government 
to immediately exercise its constitutional prerogative 
to regulate commerce between the states ;" and that 
"bureaus of labor statistics should be established, both 
state and national." The platform demanded further 
an eight-hour day and an income tax. 

In 1SSS the voices of protest were heard on every 
hand. Three new parties, the Union Labor party, the 
United Labor party, and the American party, arose to 
denounce corruption and fight for enlightened govern- 
ment. In its platform the United Labor party charac- 
terized the Democratic and Republican parties as '"'hope- 
lessly and shamefully corrupt, and by reason of their 

1 Stanvrood, History of the Presidency, p. 367. 
2 History of American People, Vol. V, p. 123. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY 29 

affiliations with monopolies equally unworthy of the 
suffrages of those who do not live upon public plun- 
der. . . ." 1 

Through all the grumbling and discontent voiced by 
these minor political organizations that arose during the 
twenty-five year period following the Civil War there 
ran, now indistinct, now more pronounced, like a motif, 
the discussion concerning free silver. In 1893 with the 
repeal of the famous Sherman Silver Purchase Act 
passed in 1890, it became the major motif in the politi- 
cal agitation that was then rife, harmonizing Populists, 
Farmers' Alliances, Democrats, Silver Republicans, 
and others, until, in 1896, after Bryan's stirring coda 
in the Chicago convention, it was dismissed as a leading 
issue from our political life. 

From the very beginning of our history, the place 
that silver should occupy in the currency had been a 
perplexing question. This was so because Congress 
attempted by legislative enactment to fix permanently 
a ratio between gold and silver which the operation of 
economic law caused frequently to change. The im- 
portant legislation on the subject was passed in 1792, 
1834, 1853, 1873, 1878, 1890, and 1893. Of these acts, 
the first four attempted to fix the legal ratio between 
gold and silver so as to make it conform to the market 
ratio. The last three were passed "to do something for 
silver," when, after repeated attempts, it had been found 
impracticable to maintain it in a dual system in a con- 
stant ratio to gold. 

A brief summary of these acts will give the broad 
outlines of the history of the silver question and will 
make clear why free silver held so prominent a place 
in the campaign of 1896. 

The act of 1792 adopted the arbitrary ratio of 15 to 

*McKee, National Conventions and Platforms, p. 254. 



30 THE PEOGBESSIVE MOVEMENT 

1 between silver and gold. There is no evidence that 
Hamilton, who advocated and was responsible for this 
ratio, adopted it because it was the same as the market 
ratio between the two metals. In fact, there is some 
evidence that he paid no attention to the market ratio. 
It happened, however, that Hamilton's ratio and the 
market ratio were about the same. Between 1792 and 
1834, however, the market ratio had changed from 15 
to 1 to 15.7 to 1, silver becoming cheaper. Under the 
operation of Gresham's law, gold was practically driven 
from the country because men found it profitable to use 
an ounce of gold to buy 15.7 ounces of silver and then 
take only 15 ounces to the mint and obtain the equiva- 
lent of the original ounce of gold. 

The law of 1831 attempted to change this condition 
by raising the ratio from 15 to 1 to 16 to 1. This act 
carried the pendulum too far in the other direction. 
The market ratio was now only 15.7 to 1, while the 
mint ; or legal, ratio was 16 to 1. Gold was now the 
cheaper metal and under Gresham's law tended to drive 
silver from the country. Just as between 1792 and 
1834, it had been profitable to use gold bullion to buy 
silver to be coined, so now it became advantageous to 
use silver as bullion to buy gold to be coined. 

The act of 1853 did not attempt to change the ratio 
in aid of silver. The framers recognized that it was 
impossible to fix any ratio that would prevent one metal 
from driving the other from the country. Gold had 
driven out silver as currency, and it was decided, with- 
out openly announcing the fact, to recognize gold as 
the standard and to use silver for subsidiary coins. 
Consequently, the act merely made some changes in the 
value of minor coins, the method of their coinage, and 
the amount that would be received as legal tender. 

The next legislation came in 1873. The act passed 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY 31 

then did little more than openly recognize a situation 
that had existed since 1853 and that had been tacitly 
accepted in that year ; i. e., that bimetallism was imprac- 
ticable and that of the two metals, gold and silver, gold 
should be the standard. But, because silver was openly 
demonetized, the silver men denounced the act in the bit- 
terest terms. They called it the "crime of '73," and 
saw in it a deliberate attempt on the part of the Eastern 
bankers to compel, with the aid of government and law, 
the debtors of the country to pay on a gold basis what 
they had borrowed on a gold and silver basis. Gold, 
they contended, because of its scarcity, would be more 
valuable and therefore purchase more. That meant that 
farmers would receive less for their products and that 
they would have to pay more on their debts. 

In 1878, as a result of the insistent demands of the 
silver men that silver be restored to "the place in the 
currency that it had formerly occupied," Congress 
passed the Bland-Allison Act, a weak compromise meas- 
ure that only made matters worse. The act made 
standard silver dollars legal tender, and provided that 
the Secretary of the Treasury "purchase, from time to 
time, silver bullion, at the market price thereof, not 
less than two million dollars' worth per month, nor more 
than four million dollars' worth per month, and cause 
the same to be coined monthly, as fast as so purchased, 
into such dollars. . . ." * The Bland- Allison Act of 
1878 satisfied nobody. It was unsatisfactory to the ad- 
vocates of a single gold standard because it flirted with 
silver by providing for the purchase of it whether it was 
needed or not. It was equally unsatisfactory to the 
free silver men because it accepted silver as an inferior 
metal and provided for the purchase of a certain 

1 Macdonald, Select Statutes of United States History, 1861- 
1898, p. 314. 



32 THE PBOGKESSIYE MOVEMENT 

amount as a sop to Cerberus. It was certain that more 
legislation would soon have to be enacted. 

In 1890 the famous Sherman Silver Purchase Act 
was passed. This act. like that passed in 1875. directed 
the Secretary of the Treasury to buy a certain quantity 
of silver, but changed the quantity ; instead of from 
two to four million dollars' worth, the act authorized 
the purchase of four and a half million ounces. The 
friends of silver saw in this new law another move 
against silver, and bent all their energies to have it 
repealed and another law passed restoring bimetallism. 
In IS 93 the Sherman Act was repealed, and no substi- 
tute was enacted to take its place. The issue which 
both parties had been evading since IS 73 could no 
longer be evaded. The period of preparation was over : 
the progressive movement in the Democratic party had 
begun. 1 

The second period in the history of the progressive 
movement in the Democratic party — the period of de- 
velopment — began in 1893 and ended with the election 
of Wilson in 1912. As soon as the Sherman Act was 
repealed in 1S93. Bryan and his followers made plans 
to capture the Democratic party and name their own 
candidate in 1896. They were aided in this attempt 

1 In a letter to the author. Bryan says: 

' ' The progressive movement began in the Democratic party in 
1893. The Populist party was the first indication of a growing 
dissatisfaction with existing conditions. . . . 

"The conditional repeal "of the Sherman Law was the chief 
cause of the reaction in the Democratic party against Wall Street 
influences. That occurred in the fall of 1893. The Democratic 
party suffered an overwhelming defeat in 1591. and began to 
organize in the spring of 1895 for the campaign of '96. The 
money question was the surface question, but it was not really 
the fundamental issue. The real question was whether the Demo- 
cratic party should be controlled by those who found their in- 
spiration in Wall Street and followed the advice of the Wall 
Street organs, or by the representation of the masses — whether 
it should stand for remedial leaislation. ' ' 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY 33 

by the fact that Cleveland, who was then President, was 
already ending his second term, and for that reason 
alone was not likely to be renominated. Moreover, the 
country in 1893 had been visited by a severe panic, 
which closed factories and mills, threw thousands out 
of employment and accentuated poverty and distress. 
The panic was attributed partly to the tinkering with 
the tariff and partly to the inadequacy of the currency 
system. At all events, Cleveland and his wing of the 
Democratic party were discredited with the public, and 
a Democratic defeat in 1896 seemed inevitable. While 
the conservative Democrats could promise little or no 
popular support for their platform and candidates, 
Bryan had reason to believe that the resources of the 
Populist party, the Farmers' Alliance, and other simi- 
lar organizations would be with him. 

After a bitter fight in the convention, Bryan was nom- 
inated and free silver declared the paramount question. 
The People's or Populist party and the National Silver 
party both indorsed the Democratic nominee. The Re- 
publicans, after a stormy convention, from which Sena- 
tor Teller of Colorado and other prominent advocates 
of bimetallism withdrew, declared in favor of the gold 
standard and nominated McKinley for President. The 
campaign that followed was one of the most hotly con- 
tested since the Civil War. This was partly because 
then, for the first time since the war, the campaign was 
fought over a definite issue, and partly because an ap- 
peal was made to classes and sections as such, thus re- 
sulting in a measure of class hatred and sectional 
rivalry. 

The campaign was, in many respects, a remarkable 
one. Bryan transformed by the magic of his person- 
ality and oratory a lifeless party, almost resigned to de- 



34 THE PKOGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

feat, into an active, vitalized army of enthusiasts that 
almost won the election. 

"In some respects the result was the greatest trial of 
the temper of the defeated party the country has ever 
known. The aims of the Democratic party were — not 
to use the phrase offensively, — in a certain sense revo- 
lutionary. They were intended to array the weak, the 
poor, the debtors, the employed, against the men who 
were designated as plutocrats. . . . The fact that, when 
the American people had spoken at the polls upon ques- 
tions that involved the highest interests of society, the 
decision was quietly accepted as conclusive until a new 
occasion should arise for passing upon them in the or- 
derly American way, is most creditable to them, and 
a happy augury for the future." 1 

Bryan's defeat in 1896 was a serious blow to himself 
and to the progressive movement in the Democratic 
party with which he was so closely identified. The loss 
of a presidential election; the great increase in the 
amount of gold produced, 2 raising prices and meeting 
other needs which Bryan had expected free silver and 
bimetallism to meet; the rejection of the principle of 
bimetallism; the revulsion of feeling that followed a 
campaign in which the appeal had been so largely to 
class hatred — all tended to discredit Bryan. Xot only 
did they discredit Bryan, but they tended to discredit, 
for a time at least, most of the other principles for which 
Bryan stood. Direct legislation, control of corporations, 

1 Stanwood, History of the Preside/icy, p. 569. 

2 From 1891-1895, the annual average production of gold was 
$162,917,000. The following table shows the rapid increase in 
production in the years immediately succeeding: 

1896 $202,251,600 

1897 238.812,000 

1898 287,128,600 

1899 306,581,900 

— White, Money and Banking (1th ed.), p. 53. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY 35 

the income tax and many other excellent measures all 
had to walk the plank with free silver. Moreover, the 
very weakness of the party made it weaker. Corpora- 
tions, on which political parties depend so largely for 
their support, like to give their money where it will 
count. To give it to a party that has little or no chance 
of coming into power, and therefore little or no chance 
of helping corporations, would be a waste of money, 
and corporations do not like to waste money. 

The campaign of 1900 presented three main issues: 
the corporations, the Philippines, and the money ques- 
tion. C5n the money question, Bryan and his party 
were discredited largely because the discovery and 
production of large quantities of gold between 1896 
and 1900 brought about the results that Bryan ex- 
pected free silver and bimetallism to effect. The great 
majority of the people accepted the gold standard and 
were unwilling to reopen the question. The corpora- 
tions, however, were becoming more and more an issue, 
and both parties tried to make political capital out of 
attacks — real or feigned — upon them. It was too early, 
though, for drastic or radical action tending to restrain 
corporations, to win approval. Many people believed 
that in some way the corporations were responsible for 
the era of unprecedented prosperity that came with 
McKinley's administration and therefore were unwill- 
ing to do anything that might cripple them. On the 
Philippine issue the Democrats took the unpopular 
stand that the islands should be given their independ- 
ence at once. The party was unwilling to commit it- 
self to a necessary expansion of the country's interests 
and possessions, and failed to realize that the United 
States had become a world empire. Standing as it did 
on these three issues, it was inevitable that the Demo- 
cratic party should go down to defeat again in 1900. 



36 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

By 1904, however, the prospects seemed brighter. 
The party had succeeded in eliminating Bryan as a 
candidate and was making successful overtures to the 
corporations for support. This support — so necessary 
in national campaigns — was given the more readily 
when the Democrats nominated for President a man of 
proved conservatism and friendliness toward corporate 
interests, Alton B. Parker. An added reason why the 
corporations generally felt disposed to support the Dem- 
ocrats was because the Republicans had nominated 
Roosevelt, who, in the three years of McKinley's term 
which he had filled out, had given evidence of a deter- 
mination to free the national government from the dom- 
ination of special interests. 

With the people, however, and with some of the cor- 
porations. Roosevelt found high favor. His strong per- 
sonality, his vigorous utterances, his many-sided life 
appealed to the masses of the people and did much to 
break down party lines. Much of Roosevelt's success 
in 1904, moreover, by a paradox familiar in American 
politics, was due to the aid of the corporations and at 
the same time to Roosevelt's attacks upon them. The 
people, who now began to realize the need of controlling 
the trusts, supported Roosevelt because he attacked 
them openly and fearlessly; the corporations supported 
Roosevelt because they considered his talk the usual 
campaign bombast and because they knew that however 
much Roosevelt wished to control them, Congress could 
be relied upon successfully to resist him. 

The Democratic party in 190 S was in no condition 
to offer effective opposition to its opponents. In the 
first place, it had no issues. The Democrats tried to 
throw the responsibility for the panic of 1907 upon 
Roosevelt, but the country at large believed that the 
causes of the financial disorder lay in our currency 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY 37 

and banking system, and in economic laws over 
which the President had no control. When the 
Democrats used the tariff as an issue, they were met 
with the promise of the Republican party to revise the 
tariff downward. When they asked for greater control 
over industrial corporations, the Republicans did like- 
wise. In the second place, the Democrats again 
nominated Bryan, who, while he could count upon 
the unfailing support of his own wing of the party, 
was distrusted by the majority of the voters, who 
could not forget free silver and 1896. To oppose 
Bryan, the Republicans presented Taft, whose training 
as judge of the United States Circuit Court, Governor 
of the Philippines and Secretary of War seemed to fit 
him preeminently for the presidency, and who in addi- 
tion had the support of the retiring President, Roose- 
velt. The campaign was not one of issues, but one of 
men, with the odds decidedly against the Democrats. 

It became evident soon after Taft was elected Presi- 
dent that special interests had regained the complete 
control of the government which had been interrupted 
during Roosevelt's administration. To the Democrats, 
this brought renewed hopes, for the country was deter- 
mined to shake off from government the influence of 
special privilege and, if it could not accomplish this 
result through the Republican party, it would turn to 
the Democrats. Another reassuring sign of victory in 
1912 was the dissension among the Republicans, many 
of whom had followed Roosevelt and were disappointed 
because Taft failed to carry out the former's policies. 
As time went on, a break between the conservative 
Republicans and the "insurgents" seemed inevitable. 

While the conservative forces were regaining control 
of the Republican party under Taft, the progressive 



38 THE PROGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

element in the Democratic party, which had been tem- 
porarily suppressed in 1904, was coming back into power. 
In 1910 thirty-five progressive Democrats formulated 
a constitution and organized a Democratic Federation. 
The object of the Federation was a to place in power the 
Democratic party organization, pledged to complete the 
reestablishment of a people' s-rule system of government 
in city, state and nation, along with revision of the 
tariff and other needed reforms." 1 

Meanwhile the progressive Democrats were making 
their influence felt in several of the states. Oklahoma, 
which had been admitted to the Union under Roose- 
velt's administration, had adopted a radical constitu- 
tion and sent to the Senate Owen, who became one of 
the leaders of the progressive contingent there. In 1910 
Congress passed a bill authorizing Arizona to prepare 
a constitution preparatory to admission as a state. The 
constitution which was prepared was radical in the ex- 
treme, providing among other things for the initiative, 
referendum, and recall. Under the bill passed by Con- 
gress, the approval of the constitution by the President 
was necessary. President Taft refused to approve the 
constitution, objecting especially to the recall of judges, 
concerning which he wrote an effective veto message. 
The provision of the constitution was therefore with- 
drawn, only to be restored when Arizona had been ad- 
mitted. 

Of all the states, however, New Jersey was destined 
to contribute most to the cause of the progressive move- 
ment in the Democratic party, because it was in that 
state that the leader of progressive Democracy tri- 
umphant received his training in practical politics. In 
1910 the Democratic leaders in New Jersey, being sadly 
in need of a victory and hoping to win it by placing at 

1 Sixty-first Congress, second session. Senate Doc. No. 649, p. 12. 



PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT IN DEMOCEATIC PAETY 39 

the head of the ticket a man who would command the 
respect of the people, nominated as governor Woodrow 
Wilson, for many years president of Princeton Univer- 
sity. In making this choice the politicians who con- 
trolled the Democratic party probably believed that they 
had secured a candidate who, because of his scholarship 
and high civic ideals, would be a good vote-getter ; but 
who, after election, because of his lack of experience 
in practical politics, would be easily controlled by the 
machine. The politicians were right in their first con- 
jecture. Wilson carried the state for the Democrats. 
But they were grievously mistaken in the second. 
Never did a quiet scholar prove so unmanageable. 

The first break between Wilson and the bosses came 
when Smith, a political boss, announced himself as can- 
didate for the United States Senate, although in the 
primaries the people had given a preferential vote for 
Martine. Wilson held that, while the primaries were 
not legally binding upon the members of the state legis- 
lature, there was, nevertheless, a moral obligation to 
vote for the candidate on whom a plurality of the voters 
had fixed their choice. Smith accepted the challenge 
thrown down by Wilson, and the struggle began. Wil- 
son interviewed individual legislators, exacting from 
them a promise to vote for Martine ; in the case of re- 
calcitrants he threatened to appeal to their constituents ; 
and, in several instances, by campaigns in various parts 
of the state, he succeeded in arousing public opinion. 
As a result of his efforts, the bosses were beaten and 
Martine was elected. 

After this preliminary skirmish 1 with the special in- 
terests had resulted in a crushing defeat for them, Wil- 
son set about to put through the legislature a long pro- 

x The greater part of the campaign for Martine and against 
Smith was waged before Wilson was inaugurated as governor. 



40 THE PKOGKESSIYE MOVEMENT 

gram of progressive laws. Among the most progressive 
measures included in this program were an employers' 
liability act, 1 a direct primary law, 2 a corrupt prac- 
tice act, 3 and a public utilities law. 4 

Wilson's success in ousting the strongly intrenched 
bosses from power in Xew Jersey, followed by the enact- 
ment of so many progressive laws, attracted the atten- 
tion of the entire nation. Before long Wilson was 
talked of as a presidential possibility in 1912. Wilson 
himself was not slow to take advantage of the popular 
sentiment in his favor and spent a good deal of his time 
while governor traveling over the country, making ad- 
dresses and meeting people. 

As 1912 drew near, it became apparent that the im- 
portant Democratic candidates would be Clark, Wilson, 
Underwood, and Harmon. Of these, Clark promised to 
be the strongest. Since 1910 he had presided effec- 
tively as Speaker of the House; he had been minority 
leader when the Republicans were in power: and be- 
cause of his personal popularity was considered a good 
vote-getter. Xext to Clark, Wilson, because of his work 
in Xew Jersey, seemed the most likely candidate. Un- 
derwood had done hard work in the House as chair- 
man of the Ways and lEeans Committee in preparing a 
revision of the tariff, but he was a Southerner and there 
was some suspicion that he was not unfavorably dis- 
posed toward corporate interests. Harmon, the least 
likely of the candidates, had made a creditable record 
as governor of Ohio, but even more than Underwood 
was thought to be in close alliance with corporations. 

In the primary elections, the chief struggle was be- 

^aws of 1911, C. 95. 
3 Ibid., C. 183. 
3 lb id., C. 188. 
'Ibid., C. 195. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY 41 

tween Wilson and Clark; and, singularly enough, in 
most instances Clark won. This was due partly to the 
fact that Wilson was unknown to many, but more es- 
pecially, perhaps, to the fact that a great many pro- 
gressives who might have been counted on to support 
Wilson against Taft rushed to the support of Roose- 
velt in his struggle to obtain the nomination in the Re- 
publican primaries. It is quite likely that many who 
voted for Roosevelt in the primaries changed their 
allegiance to Wilson when Taft was made the nominee 
of the Republican party. 

The great outstanding issue in the 1912 campaign 
was the same as it had been in the 1896 campaign, 
Who shall rule, a majority of the voters or the special 
interests of a minority ? Both the Democratic and Re- 
publican parties were divided within themselves on that 
issue, the insurgent Republicans and the progressive 
Democrats standing for the same principles. In each 
case it was a fight to capture a party. Among the 
leading progressives of the two parties it was tacitly- 
understood that the Democrats would try to nominate 
Wilson and the Republicans La Follette. If both were 
nominated, the progressives would support the nominee 
of their respective parties. If only one were nominated, 
that one was to receive the support of the progressive 
elements in both parties. And in case neither was 
nominated, they would consider making a bolt and es- 
tablishing a third party. 

The Republican convention met in Chicago in June. 
There was a short, sharp struggle between the delegates 
sent there by the special interests and those that repre- 
sented the people. And the invisible government, the 
government of the minority, won. Taft was nominated, 
Roosevelt bolted, and in the agony of defeat a new party 
was born. 



42 THE PKOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

The Democratic convention was held in Baltimore 
just a short time later. The same private interests that 
had dominated the convention at Chicago were in Balti- 
more, determined to capture another party and insure 
themselves against possible defeat. The whole country 
watched the outcome of this second struggle between 
privilege and democracy. With the Republican party 
rent wide open, the Democratic party seemed sure to 
win. The interests knew it. Bryan, the leader of the 
progressive forces of the Democratic party, knew it. 

The first victory went to the conservatives. Alton B. 
Parker, acceptable to the corporations, was elected tem- 
porary chairman in spite of the protests of the pro- 
gressives and in spite of the fact that Bryan was the 
opposing candidate. The progressives, however, gained 
an important point when they induced the convention 
to vote against the unit rule in states which had, by 
mandatory statutes, provided for the nomination and 
election of delegates under direct primaries. Bryan 
then met the issue of special interests and corporation 
influence squarely. He introduced a resolution the pur- 
pose of which was to put the convention on record as 
opposed to the nomination of any candidate for Presi- 
dent "who is the representative of, or under obliga- 
tions to, J. Pierpont Morgan, Thomas P. Ryan, August 
Belmont, or any other member of the privilege-hunting 
and favor-seeking class. . . ." x 

On the first ballot for the presidential nomination, 
Clark was far ahead, receiving 440% votes to 324 for 
Wilson, 148 for Harmon, 117% for Underwood, 31 for 
Marshall, 22 for Baldwin, two for Sulzer, and one for 
Bryan. There was practically no change in the voting 
until the tenth ballot was reached. On that ballot, the 
New York delegation, headed by Charles F. Murphy, 

1 American Year Book, 1912, p. 17. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY 43 

the leader of Tammany Hall, changed from Harmon to 
Clark, giving Clark thereby a majority of the votes, but 
not a sufficient number to nominate him. As ballot 
after ballot was taken, the Wilson forces remained firm, 
receiving encouragement and support from the press 
and public opinion. The beginning of victory came to 
Wilson on the fourteenth ballot, when Bryan announced 
that he could no longer support Clark for President, 
since the New York delegation had given its support to 
him. Although there was no immediate change after 
Bryan had taken this action, it nevertheless disheart- 
ened Clark and his adherents and made their ultimate 
defeat certain. On the forty-sixth ballot, the Clark 
forces, realizing the uselessness of contending further, 
gave up the struggle and Wilson was nominated. 1 

The campaign that followed was an extraordinary 
one. Wilson and Roosevelt were both progressive ; Taft 
was an acknowledged reactionary* In spite of the fact 
that the progressive forces were thus split into two fac- 
tions, Wilson was elected by a safe plurality, The sig- 
nificance of the 1912 campaign is not that the country 
went Democratic; for it did not. Eoosevelt and Taft 
together received 1,316,917 more votes than Wilson. 
But the country for the first time had gone progressive, 
because the votes cast for Wilson and Roosevelt ex- 
ceeded by almost seven millions those cast for Taft. 
For the first time, the people of the nation recognized 
that a select minority, and not they, had previously 
controlled government ; and for the first time they voted 
consciously and deliberately to restore the government, 

1 The wisdom of the rule that obtains in Democratic conven- 
tions that a candidate must receive two-thirds of the votes of the 
delegates is here shown. If a majority had been sufficient, Clark 
would have been nominated on the tenth ballot and the minority 
might have bolted, thus destroying the party. 



•44 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

misused and perverted, as it had been, to the control and 
use of the people. 

After a long period of preparation, followed by 
twenty years of development, the Democratic party as 
an instrument of progressivism is now entering upon 
a period of achievement. Already a Democratic Con- 
gress has revised the tariff, passed a currency law, and 
provided for additional regulation of trusts and monopo- 
lies. The President and Congress have put through a 
long program of progressive legislation. But it is 
doubtful whether the Democratic party as it is at 
present constituted can carry out the full progressive 
program. It may take the first step ; by reducing the 
tariff, enacting a presidential preference primary law, 
a currency law, and a law providing for greater con- 
trol over corporations, it may do something to take 
government from the power of special interests. But 
unless it changes its traditional position it cannot go 
far in using government to relieve economic and social 
distress. The Democratic party has always been the 
conservative party, it has always gone into power as the 
conservative party. It was returned to power in 1912 
not because it was radical, but because Roosevelt and 
his party were more radical. Then there is further the 
problem of the Solid South. So long as men in the 
South are chosen for their color rather than their politi- 
cal creed, so long as a man may oppose a reduced tariff, 
income tax, control of corporations, and every other pro-; 
gressive measure and still be elected on the Democratic 
ticket to the United States Senate or the House of Rep- 
resentatives solely because of his stand on the negro 
problem, so long will there be potential dissension in the 
Democratic party and inability to agree permanently 
on a fundamental program. 

To the Democratic party this credit must be given. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY 45 

It was the first of the two old parties to conduct a na- 
tional campaign on the issue that government should be 
free; and, after sixteen years of endeavor, it was 
the first party to succeed in winning a national election 
on that issue. Bryan's fundamental proposition in Bal- 
timore in 1912 was identical with that in Chicago in 
1896. He was fighting old foes with new faces. And, 
although it is true that Bryan's success and the success 
of the Democrats in 1912 were due in large measure to 
the dissensions in the ranks of the Republicans, it is 
nevertheless true that the fundamental ideals of govern- 
ment for which Bryan and his wing of Democracy stood 
in 1896 had at last been accepted by the country and 
that the reactionaries and children of special privilege 
had, for a time at least, been put to utter rout. 



CHAPTEE III 

THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IX THE REPUBLICAN 
PARTY 

The progressive movement in the Democratic party. 

as Ave have seen, emphasized the need of freeing gov- 
ernment from the domination of special interests. At 
the start, the leaders of the movement adopted the cur- 
rency question as the most vital issue on which to op- 
pose special influence and special legislation and bent 
their efforts to restore silver to its old position in our 
financial system, believing that the attempt to demone- 
tize silver was an attempt to rule the country in the 
interests of Wall Street and that the preservation of 
the double standard would aid the prosperity of the 
masses of the people. 

In the Republican party, the progressive movement 
was fundamentally the same, but manifested itself dif- 
ferently. There, too. the fight was against the control 
of government by special interests and the prostitution 
of government to serve the needs of a small minority. 
But in the Republican party the contest took the form 
primarily of a struggle against corporations. This 
struggle had several phases : first, and most important, 
was the attempt to find some adequate means of con- 
trolling and regulating corporate activities : second, 
and almost as important, was the resistance to the ef- 
forts by corporations to exploit the natural resources 
of the nation in their own behalf ; and, finally, came the 

46 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN EEPUBLICAN PARTY 47 

revolt against the impudent, open revision of the tariff 
in 1909 in the interest of trusts and monopolies. 

The feeling that corporations must be controlled was 
fairly definite and widespread as early as 1890. Jus- 
tice Harlan, in his dissenting opinion in the famous 
Standard Oil Case, 1 said: "All who recall the condi- 
tion of the country in 1890 will remember that there 
was everywhere, among the people generally, a deep 
feeling of unrest. The nation had been rid of human 
slavery— fortunately, as all now feel— but the convic- 
tion was universal that the country was in real danger 
from another kind of slavery sought to be fastened on 
the American people, namely, the slavery that would re- 
sult from the aggregations of capital in the hands of a 
few individuals and corporations controlling, for their 
own profit and advantage exclusively, the entire busi- 
ness of the country, including the production and sale 
of the necessaries of life. Such a danger was thought 
to be then imminent, and all felt that it must be met 
firmly and by such statutory regulations as would ade-. 
quately protect the people against oppression and 
wrong." 

As a result of this unrest, Congress in 1890 took a 
step toward controlling corporations by passing what 
has become known as the Sherman Anti-Trust law. 2 
The first two sections of the act are as follows : 

"Section 1. Every contract, combination in the 
form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in re- 
straint of trade or commerce among the several 
states, or with foreign nations, is hereby declared 
to be illegal. Every person who shall make any 
such contract or engage in any such combination 

1 221 U. S., p. 83. 

'Anti-Trust Act of July 2, 1890. C. 647, 26 Stat. 209. 



48 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

or conspiracy, shall be deemed guilty of a mis- 
demeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be pun- 
ished by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, 
or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by 
both said punishments, in the discretion of the 
court. 

"Section 2. Every person who shall monopolize, 
or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire 
with another person or persons, to monopolize any 
part of the trade or commerce among the several 
states, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction 
thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding 
■Q.YQ thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not ex- 
ceeding one year, or by both said punishments, in 
the discretion of the court." 

In the early cases that came up, the Supreme Court 
upheld the law and enforced it as it stood. 1 In spite of 
these decisions, however, such corporations as the Stand- 
ard Oil Company and the American Tobacco Company 
continued to monopolize their respective industries and 
to combine in restraint of trade. There was, moreover, 
a general feeling that these corporations would continue 
to combine and restrain trade and that no suit for their 
dissolution would be brought because of the injurious 
effect it would have on business. Consequently in 
1901, when Eoosevelt came into office, few people be- 
lieved that he would — or could — use the Sherman Law 

1 Of eighteen suits brought by the government under the 
Sherman Act from the date of its passage down to the begin- 
ning of Roosevelt's administration, ten were successful. The 
most conspicuous failure on the part oF the government was in 
the Knight case, a case that involved the so-called Sugar Trust. 
See 156 U. S. 1. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN REPUBLICAN PARTY 49 

effectively to curb the larger and more formidable 
trusts. 

Roosevelt soon confirmed this belief and showed that 
he regarded the Sherman Law as a doubtful remedy. 
Roosevelt's chief objection to the law was its lack of 
discrimination. It assumed that all combinations were 
trusts, all monopolies were dangerous and should be 
suppressed, teoosevelt drew and emphasized the dis- 
tinction between good corporations and bad corporations 
and pointed out that a monopoly was not objectionable 
merely because it was a monopoly, nor a business bad 
because it was big. Appreciating the need of some effec- 
tive means of curbing the power of the great industrial 
corporations and realizing the inadequacy of the only 
means then at hand, i. e., the Sherman Anti-Trust Law 
of 1890, Roosevelt induced Congress in 1903 to estab- 
lish a Bureau of Corporations as part of the Depart- 
ment of Commerce and Labor created at that time. Con- 
gress acceded to the President's request and made pro- 
vision for such a bureau, giving it a power and author- 
ity to make . . . diligent investigation into the organi- 
zation, conduct, and management of the business of any 
corporation, joint-stock company or corporate combina- 
tion engaged in commerce among the several states and 
with foreign nations," * except, of course, corporations 
already controlled by the Interstate Commerce Commis- 
sion. The act further provided that "it shall also be 
the province and duty of said bureau, ... to gather, 
compile, publish and supply useful information con- 
cerning corporations." 

Under the authority of this act, the Bureau of Cor- 
porations made an exhaustive investigation, among oth- 
ers, of two of the most formidable trusts, the Standard 

1 Fifty- seventh Congress, Ses. .II, Ch. 552, 1903. 



50 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

Oil Company 1 and the American Tobacco Company. 2 
The public knew something of the methods of the first 
of these two organizations through the monumental 
work of Ida Tarbell : and imagination added to the 
really startling picture that Miss Tarbell painted. 
Nevertheless, the reports of the Bureau of Corporations, 
showing a thoroughness and accuracy that could not be 
questioned, and coming from an official source, were 
surprising in the extreme. They showed that these 
corporations almost completely controlled their respec- 
tive products, that they had acquired that control by 
unfair competition and sharp practices, and that they 
used their advantage to raise prices. 

Koosevelt, however, even before the reports of the 
Bureau of Corporations were completed, determined to 
use the only available law to meet the situation, the 
Sherman Anti-Trust law. In Xovember, 1906, suit 
for dissolution was filed in the federal courts against 
the Standard Oil Company, and in July. 1907, against 
the American Tobacco Company. It is probable that 
the President, in bringing these suits, felt the inade- 
quacy of the Sherman law, and that he shared a rather 
widespread belief that the anti-trust law was crude, in- 
flexible, and difficult, and that, if applied in all its 
literalness, it would destroy business prosperity. What 
he felt was needed was regulation and supervision, and 
not annihilation. 

But. although there was a clear violation of the law 
by both corporations, the full penalty of the act was 
never imposed upon either. The punishment of being 
compelled to dissolve was more apparent than real, and 

1 Report, of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Petroleum 
Industry (Parts I and II). May 20, 1907. and August 5, 1907. 

3 Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Tobacco 
Industrr (Parts I and II), February 25, 1909, and September 25, 
1911. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN REPUBLICAN PARTY 51 

no great damage resulted from its infliction. What 
seemed to weaken the Sherman Law most in connection 
with the decisions were the remarks of Chief Justice 
White to the effect that the Act was aimed at Unrea- 
sonable" restraint of trade only. Although these re- 
marks were not necessary to the decision, they were 
taken to indicate the attitude of the Supreme Court on 
the point and to mean in substance that the court would 
use an unusually large amount of discretion in en- 
forcing the law. 1 

Eoosevelt's efforts to subject corporations to efficient 
federal control and to eliminate the evils and retain 
the advantages of business conducted on a large scale 
were stopped in 1907 by the financial panic of that 
year. 2 It was Roosevelt's undoubted intention and de- 
sire that his successor, Taft, should carry on the work 
where he had left off and find the solution of the prob- 
lem of corporation control. How he was disappointed 
and deceived is well known. 

The conservation movement — a movement to protect 
the nation's natural resources from exploitation by a 
few powerful interests — was a second phase of the fight 
against corporations and special privilege waged by the 
progressive forces in the Republican party during 
Roosevelt's administration. Conservation, says Gifford 
Pinchot, 3 "stands against the waste of the natural re- 
sources which cannot be renewed, such as coal and iron ; 
it stands for the perpetuation of the resources which can 
be renewed, such as the food-producing soils and the for- 
ests ; and most of all it stands for an equal opportunity 
for every American citizen to get his fair share of bene- 
fit from these resources, both now and hereafter/' 4 

x 221 XL S. 1, 106. 

2 For a fuller discussion of corporations, see Chapter VIII. 

3 The Fight for Conservation, p. 79. 

4 The italics are mine. 



52 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

Although the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science by a memorial presented in IS 73, re- 
inforced by another in 1890, succeeded in having estab- 
lished a forestry bureau in the Department of Agricul- 
ture and brought about the first national reserve in 
1891: and, although as a result of the publication of a 
book by Major J. W. Powell entitled "Lands of the 
Arid Region,* 7 the United States Geological Survey was 
authorized to establish an irrigation division and the 
Secretary of the Interior was given the right to with- 
draw from private entry reservoir sites — although due 
credit must be given to ail these agencies, it was Theo- 
dore Roosevelt who first made conservation a national 
issue and warned the people that they must fight to 
save their heritage of minerals, water, forests, and 
land. 1 

On March 14. 1907, Eoosevelt appointed the Inter- 
state Waterways Commission to investigate conserva- 
tion so far as it concerned the waterways of the coun- 
try. The commission, after a trip over the country, 
realizing the magnitude of the whole problem, recom- 
mended to the President that he call a conference at 
Washington to discuss the conservation of natural re- 
sources. The President agreed and sent invitations at 
first to the governors of the states and later to the Vice- 
President, members of the Cabinet, both Houses of 
Congress and some leading scientists. The conference 
was held in the White House May 13, 1908, and con- 
sidered the whole question of conservation. As a result 
of the meeting, the National Conseiwation Commission. 
with Gilford Pinchot at the head, was established. This 
commission undertook as its first task to make an in- 
ventory of the natural resources of the country. This 
inventory contained a vast amount of valuable infor- 
1 See Van Hise, Conservation of Natural Resources. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN REPUBLICAN PARTY 53 

mation necessary to an intelligent determination of the 
problems of conservation. The report was approved by 
a conference of governors and by the President and was 
later published. 

In this fight to protect the natural wealth of the 
country from private exploitation and waste, Eoose- 
velt received no aid from the majority of the members 
of Congress. On the contrary, everything possible was 
done to hamper him. The President asked for an ap- 
propriation for the commission. Senator Nelson of 
Minnesota requested $25,000 for necessary traveling 
expenses, room rent, etc. No heed was paid to either. 
Congress ignored the President's demand and Senator 
Hale killed Nelson's request in committee. 

And this was not all. It had been the custom of the 
Conservation Commission to use as experts men con- 
nected with various government bureaus. James A. 
Tawney of Minnesota introduced and supported a clause 
in the sundry civil appropriation bill prohibiting these 
experts from giving any of their time to the work of 
the commission. With its money and men both cut off, 
the commission was well-nigh helpless. Moreover, the 
House committee on printing refused to grant permis- 
sion to have printed the report of the commission in- 
tended for general distribution to show the people what 
resources were available, their probable life, and what 
resources had been exhausted. 

While it is true, therefore, that under Koosevelt's 
administration private interests were checked in their 
exploitation and wanton destruction of natural re- 
sources, it is equally true that Eoosevelt was checked 
in his effort to put the conservation movement on a 
secure foundation. So far as conservation is concerned, 
leaving out, of course, the invaluable service in arousing 
public opinion in this country and in fact all over the 



54 THE PEOGBESSIVE MOVEMENT 

world on the question, the result of the battle between 
Koosevelt and the special interests on the conservation 
issue was a deadlock. Koosevelt had not been out of 
office a year before the interests were back at work in 
Alaska trying to appropriate the immense national 
wealth of that territory to their own selfish use. 

Before considering the tariff as the third issue on 
which the fight against special influence was waged, it 
will be well to trace briefly the rise of that progressive 
spirit in the Eepublican party in various states that 
made possible the revolt against Cannon and Cannon- 
ism in 1909-10, when the tariff law was before Congress. 
Most important among progressive Eepublican governors 
were La Follette in Wisconsin, Pingree in Michigan, 
Cummins in Iowa, Hughes in ]\ T ew York, and Johnson 
in California. Brief mention should also be made of 
the political experiments in Oregon. 

Of the work of all these men, that of La Follette in 
Wisconsin contributed most to the progressive move- 
ment in the Eepublican party. As a young man, La 
Follette had locked horns with the interests, running 
for district attorney of Dane County against the 
wishes of the bosses and winning in spite of their oppo- 
sition. His success in opposing the machine and his 
efficient administration of the district attorney's office 
won many friends and made possible his election to 
Congress. In 1890, owing to peculiar conditions, the 
Eepublican party in Wisconsin was defeated and La 
Follette failed to be returned to Congress. He felt his 
defeat keenly and retired to private life, taking up his 
law practice with the intention of remaining out of poli- 
tics for good. 

But circumstances forced him back into the fight. 
The Eepublicans who had long held complete control 
of the government before the Democratic landslide in 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN EEPUBLICAN PARTY 55 

1890 had used the office of state treasurer as a most 
effective means of political graft. It was customary for 
the state treasurer to deposit the state money in any 
banks he chose, upon such terms as he could command, 
and with the understanding that part of the interest was 
to go to him. In this way the state had been cheated 
of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Democrats, 
wishing to make a record and to embarrass their op- 
ponents, brought suits against former state treasurers 
to recover the money that had been stolen from the 
state. 

The bondsman for most of these former officials was 
a machine boss of extreme wealth and influence named 
Sawyer who, when he found himself in danger of losing 
$300,000 on his bonds, exerted himself to have the suits 
called off. The cases were to be tried before Judge 
Siebecker, La Toilette's brother-in-law and former law 
partner ; and, through La Toilette, Sawyer hoped to in- 
fluence the disposition of the actions. According to La 
Toilette, Sawyer offered him a bribe to "fix" Siebecker. 
La Toilette indignantly refused, published an account 
of the incident, and resolved to make unrelenting war 
on the system and to free Wisconsin from machine poli- 
tics. 

The story of La Toilette's fight for decent govern- 
ment in Wisconsin reads like a novel. Every con- 
ceivable influence was used to defeat and ruin him. In 
the campaign of 1892 he asked the state committee for 
permission to speak. His request was at first denied, 
and it was only after he had threatened to speak inde- 
pendently that the committee yielded its consent. 

In 1894 he carried on the fight, supporting for the 
nomination for governor Nils P. Haugen, a progressive 
of an advanced type. Haugen was beaten. In 1896 
and 1898 La Toilette ran for the nomination for the 



56 THE PEOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

governorship himself and was beaten each time, al- 
though he made increasing inroads upon the strength 
of the machine. Finally in 1900, after a struggle with 
the bosses and special interests lasting six years, he was 
nominated and elected governor and began his work of 
constructive legislation. 

The two measures which La Follette wished to put 
through during the legislative session of 1901 were a 
direct primary law and a law providing for a fairer tax- 
ation of railroads. Because of the activities of the lob- 
byists, both measures failed. In 1902, however, the 
fight was renewed and this time was successful. Rail- 
roads were forced to bear their full share of taxation; 
and, as a result, railroad taxes increased more than 
$600,000 a year. The direct primary bill, too, was 
passed at this session, with the provision, however, that 
it be submitted to a popular referendum 1 before finally 
becoming law. 

Two other measures of importance were passed : an 
inheritance tax law and a law governing lobbying. Of 
these, the more important was the law governing lobby- 
ing, growing as it did out of the hard and bitter struggle 
that La Follette and his followers had waged for years 
against the unseen government. The law required all 
lobbyists to register with the secretary of state, giv- 
ing the names and business of their employers ; and fur- 
ther provided that no lobbyist should hold secret com- 
munication with legislators or legislative committees. 

Having succeeded so well with his first measures, La 
Follette pressed on with other reforms, including work- 
ingmen's compensation, income tax, an industrial com- 
mission, and a railroad commission with power to fix 
rates. Of these, the industrial commission and the rail- 

*At the referendum election, in 1904, the law was adopted by 
a majority of over 50,000. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN REPUBLICAN PARTY 57 

road commission are most significant because they were 
contributions of a unique constructive kind to the pro- 
gressive thought of the country. The industrial com- 
mission — the first of its kind in the country x — has 
power to "control and regulate the most difficult ques- 
tions of sanitation, safety, health and moral well-being 
which affect the workers of the state. It is one of the 
most important innovations we have made, one charged 
with the greatest possibilities for improving the lives of 
working men and women, and one which should be 
watched and studied by every one who is interested in 
forward movements." 2 The railroad commission, com- 
posed of three members appointed by the governor, has 
the power to fix rates, control service, and make a com- 
plete physical valuation of the railroad property of the 
state. So scientific and painstaking has the work of the 
commission been that it has been able at the same time 
to reduce rates and increase the profits of the railroads. 
All rate-making was based on three factors: (1) the 
physical valuation of the railroads; (2) the cost of 
maintenance; and (3) the cost of operation. So fair 
was this method in practice that not only the people but 
the railroads themselves have acknowledged the great 
benefits the railroad commission has brought to the state. 
Another Republican governor who, by his fight 
against special interests in government, prepared the 
way for the progressive movement in the Republican 
party was Hazen S. Pingree of Michigan. 3 Pingree, 
before being elected governor, had been mayor of De- 
troit, and while in that office attracted widespread atten- 
tion because of his violent attacks on public utility cor- 

! La Follette, Autobiography, p. 311. 
% Ibid., p. 311. 

8 For an account of Pingree 's work, see American Law Review, 
Vol. XXXIV, pp. 36-50. 



58 THE PROGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

porations and his proposal to aid the poor by allowing 
them to use the vacant lands owned by the city. Dur- 
ing his two terms as governor (1897-1900) Pingree 
advocated a great many measures now classed as pro- 
gressive. Among them were direct election of United 
States senators, direct primaries, regulation of lobbying, 
control of trusts and railways, an eight-hour working- 
day, and others. Pingree's most important work, how- 
ever, was done in connection with three reforms : regu- 
lation of railroad rates ; the change in the basis of rail- 
road taxation from specific to ad valorem ; and munici- 
pal ownership of public utilities. 

In 1891 the state legislature had passed an amend- 
ment to the railroad law, requiring, among other things, 
that railroads should sell mileage books, good for 1,000 
miles, at the rate of $20 a book in the lower peninsula 
and $25 a book in the upper. A man named Smith, 
having applied for one of these tickets and being re- 
fused, appealed to the courts for a mandamus to compel 
the railroad to sell the mileage book as required by law. 
The railroad company lost in the state courts; but, 
later, upon appeal to the federal courts, was successful 
in having the law declared unconstitutionoal on the 
ground that it took away property without due process 
of law. Pingree, undaunted, himself brought an action 
against another railroad company, the Michigan Cen- 
tral; but he, too, was unsuccessful in having the law 
enforced, the court * deciding in this case that by its 
charter the Michigan Central had the right to fix and 
regulate its charges at a rate not to exceed three cents 
a mile. 

In his attempt to reform the state system of taxation, 
Pingree met with failure, but this time only tem- 
porarily. In a message to the legislature in 1897, the 

1 Attorney- General vs. Pingree, 120 Mich. 550. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN REPUBLICAN PARTY 59 

governor called attention to the fact that the total valu- 
ation of property in the state was $818,086,160, of 
which railroad property made up $316,333,027.90. 
For the same year the total tax levy was $20,633,571.04, 
of which the railroads contributed $741,408.77, 1 
or only about one-tenth of their share. After a hard 
tussle, the governor secured the passage of a bill pro- 
viding for a board of three members appointed by the 
governor to assess the taxable property of railroads 
within the state, to find the average rate of taxation for 
state, county and municipal purposes, and to apply that 
rate to the assessed valuation of railroad property. The 
supreme court of Michigan in 1899 2 declared the law 
unconstitutional on the ground that as an ad valorem tax 
it should be levied uniformly with other state taxes 
and not made equal to the average of all taxes, state 
and local. Nothing daunted, however, Pingree set 
about to have passed a constitutional amendment that 
would give the legislature the power to tax the rail- 
roads as he proposed. As a result of Pingree's agita- 
tion there was passed at an extra session of the legisla- 
ture in 1900 a joint resolution, providing for the collec- 
tion of specific taxes from corporations and for the "as- 
sessment of the property of corporations at its true cash 
value by a state board of assessors and for the levying 
and collecting of taxes thereon." 3 This amendment 
was then presented to the people at the November elec- 
tion, and was carried. In this way, Pingree's second 
reform, although blocked for a time by the courts, at 
last succeeded. 

The third great reform which Pingree tried to effect 

1 Message of Governor H. S. Pingree to Twenty-ninth Legisla- 
ture, p. 13. 

2 120 Michigan 95. 

"See Constitution of Michigan, Art. XIV, Sec. 10. 



60 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

was municipal ownership of street railways. The legis- 
lature passed a bill creating the Detroit Street Kailway 
Commission, to which was given the power to acquire 
street railways wholly within the city limits. A short 
time after the commission had been appointed and had 
opened negotiations for the purchase of the railways, a 
case was taken to the courts to determine the validity 
of the act. The court decided that, inasmuch as the 
state constitution expressly prohibited the state itself 
from being "a party to, or interested in, any work of 
internal improvement," and inasmuch as buying street 
railways comes under the head of being interested in an 
internal improvement, the state could not authorize a 
city to do what it could not do itself. 1 

Pingree failed to carry out two of the three great re- 
forms for which he contended, not because of any lack 
of energy or ability on his part, but because the funda- 
mental law — of the nation in one case and of the state 
in the other — as interpreted by the highest courts, pro- 
hibited the measures which Pingree succeeded in 
forcing through the legislature. Where it was possible, 
as in the case of railroad taxation, Pingree met the ob- 
jections of the court by adding an amendment to the 
constitution; where that could not be done, there was 
nothing to do but wait until the fundamental law could 
be changed or the court induced to modify its interpre- 
tation of it. In Pingree' s case, as in the case of so 
many other reformers, progress was made impossible 
because of a rigid constitution and a conservative court. 

Like La Follette and Pingree, Cummins, three times 
governor of Iowa, and later United States senator, saw 
clearly the issues of the progressive movement. He saw 
that the most important question was the relation of 
corporations to government and he feared, as so many 

1 120 Michigan 550. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN REPUBLICAN PARTY 61 

others have feared, that, if the government does not 
find an effective means of controlling corporations, cor- 
porations will inevitably control government. "Wealth," 
said Cummins in his first inaugural address, "and es- 
pecially incorporate wealth, has many rights; but it 
should always be remembered that among them is not 
the right to vote. Corporations have, and ought to have, 
many privileges ; but among them is not the privilege 
to sit in political conventions or occupy seats in legisla- 
tive chambers." 1 

In his messages to the legislature, during his three 
terms as governor, Cummins urged the adoption of a 
number of reforms, including a state-wide primary law, 
a law limiting the amount of capital stock issued by 
corporations, a law prohibiting free passes on railroads, 
a child labor law, direct inheritance tax, direct election 
of United States senators, a corporation tax, an employ- 
ers' liability act, a law prohibiting lobbying, a law giv- 
ing the railroad commission power to fix rates, a corrupt 
practices act, and a law limiting the number of hours 
of continuous work in railway service. Although the 
legislature did not pass laws on all these subjects, the 
amount and character of progressive legislation enacted 
was considerable. 2 Perhaps the most notable law passed 
while Cummins was governor was the commission gov- 
ernment law for cities, which has become famous every- 
where in the country as "the Des Moines Plan." 

Governor Hughes properly is classed among progres- 

1 Iowa Documents, 1902, Vol. I., p. 12. 

2 Among these laws were: Law forbidding corporations to con- 
tribute to political campaigns, C. 73, L. of 1907; law limiting 
hours of continuous service on railways, C. 103, L. of 1907; direct 
primary law, C. 51, L. of 1907; law regulating capital stock, 
C. 71, L. of 1907; law prohibiting free passes, C. 112, L. of 1907; 
law governing child labor, C. 103, L. of 1906; resolution favoring 
direct election of U. S. senators, Joint Resolution No. 3, 1904. 



62 THE PKOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

sive Republican governors because of the three great 
reforms for which he contended during his two terms 
in office. These three reforms were: first, provision 
for a commission to control public utilities in the state ; 
second, the passage of a law prohibiting race-track 
gambling; and, third, the enactment of a thorough- 
going direct primary law. 

The greatest achievement of Governor Hughes was 
the passage of the public service commissions law, creat- 
ing the public service commissions. Under this law the 
state is divided into two districts, the first including 
Greater Xew York, and the second the rest of the 
state. Each district has a commission composed of five 
members appointed by the governor with the advice and 
consent of the senate, the term of office being -Qye years, 
one commissioner retiring each year. Each commission, 
within its district, has power to investigate the accounts 
of railroads and other public utility corporations, pre- 
scribe uniform methods of accounting, fix rates, compel 
better service, pass upon franchises, and in general ex- 
ercise supervision over the affairs of public utility cor- 
porations. 

The efficiency of these public service commissions in 
iNew York, as in the case of all other commissions, de- 
pends largely upon the men chosen by the governors to 
act as commissioners. The public service co mmi ssions 
law went into effect on July 1, 1907. Although it was 
intended as a check on corporations and special inter- 
ests, there is grave suspicion that it is becoming a mere 
tool in their hands. There is every evidence that in the 
last few years appointments have been made without 
any consideration of fitness, but solely as a matter of 
political preferment. 

In his struggle to remove gambling at race tracks, 
Hughes led one of the bitterest political battles ever 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN REPUBLICAN PARTY 63 

waged in New York State. The forces of evil, corrup- 
tion, and special influence were arrayed against him al- 
most to a man. Investigations held years later showed 
that legislators had been bribed with substantial sums 
to vote against the bill. But in spite of all this opposi- 
tion, by the narrow margin of one vote — the vote of Sen- 
ator Foelker, who was carried in from a sick chamber — 
the bill was passed and race-track gambling was pro- 
hibited in the state. 

The direct primary bill, known as the Hinman-Green 
bill, for which Governor Hughes was sponsor, was pre- 
pared after a careful study of direct primary legisla- 
tion in other states and was most thorough. After a 
persistent fight, however, in which the bosses and spe- 
cial interests of both the Democratic and Republican 
parties combined against him, Hughes' direct primary 
bill was beaten. It was a striking illustration of the 
power of the political machines and awakened thou- 
sands in New York to the fact that popular government 
was in danger. 

Hiram W. Johnson of California, because he was 
largely instrumental in breaking down a political ma- 
chine and in enacting a large amount of reform legis- 
lation, deserves to be ranked among the governors who 
developed the progressive movement in the Republican 
party. When Johnson was elected governor in 1910, the 
Southern Pacific Railroad dominated the political life 
of California and openly boasted of it. "The following 
statement issued immediately after the November elec- 
tions (1910) by Meyer Lissner, Chairman of the Re- 
publican State Central Committee, indicates how com- 
plete was the anti-machine victory : 

: 'Four years ago the first serious organized ef- 
fort to take the control of the government of Cali- 



64 THE PKOGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

fornia from the political bureau of the Southern 
Pacific Eailroad was begun. Those loyal, real 
Republicans, who initiated that movement, were 
laughed at for their pains. The railroad had so 
long been in control, its tentacles were so firmly 
fastened in every governmental department, state, 
county and municipal, that it was generally con- 
sidered invincible.' " 1 

The representatives of the Southern Pacific sat in the 
legislature, in the governor's chair, and on the bench 
and defied reformers to oust them. It was Johnson 
who accepted the challenge and successfully performed 
the task. 

Some idea of the extent to which the state was con- 
trolled by special interests may be gained by a brief 
survey of the legislative session of 1909. Although a 
majority of the senate and assembly favored the pas- 
sage of reform measures, the machine, by gaining con- 
trol of the organization of both senate and assembly 
and placing upon the important committees men who 
could be depended upon to look out for the special in- 
terests, was able to block completely many progressive 
measures and to mutilate beyond recognition those that 
did pass. The three principal issues that came before 
the legislature were the anti-race-track gambling bill, the 
direct primary bill, and the railway rate regulation bill. 
By combining forces and steadfastly refusing to yield 
or compromise, the progressives managed to pass the first 
of these measures. In the case of the direct primary 
bill, where two issues were involved, the machine and 
the progressives divided the victory. The machine 
fought for a direct primary law that would require a 

1 From Hichborn, Story of the California Legislature of 1911, 
p. 11. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN REPUBLICAN PARTY 65 

majority or a high plurality to nominate and would 
throw the nomination into a convention if the majority 
or high plurality were not obtained. In this way, the 
machine, by putting a great number of candidates into 
the field and thus preventing anyone from obtaining the 
necessary majority or plurality, hoped to defeat the pur- 
pose of the direct primary law and retain the convention 
system. On this first issue, the machine was beaten be- 
cause it was clearly shown that any law providing for 
anything other than a mere plurality vote would be un- 
constitutional. On the second issue, the machine con- 
tended for a primary law that would give the voters an 
opportunity to express a choice for United States senator 
by districts and not over the entire state and with the 
understanding that the vote of the people was advisory 
and not binding. Under this arrangement the machine 
expected that there would be as many designations for 
United States senator as there were districts and that 
ultimately the election would be entirely in the hands 
of the legislature as under the old system. By clever, 
cunning tactics, the machine element in the legislature 
contrived to win out on this second issue. 1 The third 
great question before the California legislature in 1909 
was the question of railway rate regulation. Here again 
the machine won. What the progressives desired to 
pass was a law giving to the railroad commission then 
in existence the right to fix an absolute rate. What the 
machine wanted when it saw that some legislation was 
bound to be passed was a law fixing a maximum rate. 
By concentrating argument upon the constitutionality 
of the bill fixing an absolute rate and thus confusing 
the progressives who wanted some kind of regulatory 
measure, the machine carried its point and the bill that 
1 See Hichborn, Story of the California Legislature of 1909, pp. 



66 THE PBOGKESSIYE MOVEMENT 

passed gave to the state commission merely the power to 
fix maximum rates. 1 

In his inaugural address, Governor Johnson, mindful 
of the record of the legislature of 1909 and its prede- 
cessors, declared: "The problem first presented to us, 
therefore, is how best can the government be made re- 
sponsive to the people alone \ blatters of material pros- 
perity and advancement, conservation of resources, de- 
velopment of that which lies within our borders are easy 
of solution when once the primal question of the peo- 
ple's rule shall have been determined. In some form 
or other nearly every governmental problem that in- 
volves the health, the happiness, or the prosperity of the 
state has arisen, because some private interest has in- 
tervened or has sought for its own gain to exploit either 
the resources or the politics of the state. I take it, 
therefore, that the first duty that is mine to perform is 
to eliminate every private interest from the government, 
and to make the public service of the state responsive 
solely to the people/' 2 

Stirred by the earnestness and determination of the 
governor, the legislature of 1911 set out to pass the laws 
which the preceding legislature had failed to pass and 
to perfect those which it had passed in a mutilated form. 
After the reformers, who were coming more and more to 
be known as progressives — had organized both the sen- 
ate and the assembly, so as to give them control of the 
important committees and therefore of legislation, they 
proceeded to elect John D. Works, a progressive, United 
States senator, amended the direct primary law so as 
to make possible the direct nomination of United States 
senators by popular, state-wide vote, abolished the 

1 For a discussion of the whole subject, see ibid., pp. 121-144. 

2 Hichbom, Story of the California Legislature of 1911, App. 
pp. i and ii, The italics are mine. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN REPUBLICAN PARTY 67 

"party circle" and the "party column" so dear to the 
hearts of all bosses and machine politicians, passed an 
amendment to the constitution providing for the initia- 
tive and referendum, put through in the face of strong 
opposition an amendment giving the people the right 
to recall all elected officials, executive, legislative, and 
judicial, repealed the weak railway rate regulation law 
passed at the preceding session and substituted for it a 
law empowering the state commission to fix absolute 
rates, enacted laws governing the conservation of natu- 
ral resources; passed an employers' liability act, an 
eight-hour law for women, an amendment to the consti- 
tution giving women the right to vote, and numerous 
other progressive measures, which taken together made 
up a larger body of progressive legislation than all pre- 
ceding legislatures combined had passed. "Up to the 
session of the 1911 legislature, representative govern- 
ment had, for a generation, been practically unknown 
in California. But with The People armed, as they 
now are, with the Initiative, the Referendum and the 
Recall, no government that is not representative, no 
government that fails to respond to the will of The Peo- 
ple, need be tolerated." 1 

The story of the development of the progressive 
forces in the Republican party would be incomplete 
without some mention of the magnificent constructive 
work done in the state of Oregon. The progressive 
measures of chief importance worked out in that state 
are those that have to do with direct legislation. These 
measures include the initiative, the referendum, the re- 
call, direct primaries, presidential preference primaries, 
popular election of United States senators and a corrupt 
practices act. The constitutional amendment provid- 
ing for the initiative and the referendum was adopted in 
1 Hichborn, Story of the California Legislature of 1911, p. 348. 



68 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

the general election of 1902 by a vote of about eleven to 
one. 1 In 1901 the direct primary law, including a provi- 
sion for popular election of United States senators, was 
ratified by the people. In 1908 there followed the corrupt 
practices act and in 1910 the constitutional amendment 
authorizing the recall of all elective officials. The adop- 
tion of these measures enabled the citizens of Oregon to 
make and reject laws, recall recalcitrant and faithless 
officials, nominate candidates for the presidency di- 
rectly and without the intervention of a convention, and 
choose their own United States senators. So far as laws 
could make them, the people of Oregon were politically 
free. 2 

Thus far we have seen how the progressives in the 
Republican party contended against the corporations 
on the issue of corporation control and conservation; 
we have seen, moreover, how there arose in various 
states, as the result of hard fighting, progressive spirit 
and progressive legislation. There remains to be con- 
sidered the final phase of the contest with the corpora- 
tions under Taft's administration, centering about the 
efforts of the corporate interests to have the tariff re- 
vised to their advantage. 

Roosevelt, at the expiration of his seven years as 
President, in indorsing Taft as his successor, undoubt- 
edly believed that he would carry to completion the 
measures for which he, Roosevelt, had so strenuously 
fought. Xever did a man prove more disappointing. 
Although everyone, including Taft in his campaign 
speeches, interpreted the promise in the Republican 
platform as a pledge to revise the tariff downward, Taft 
allowed Congress to revise it upward, signed the bill 

1 Eaton, The Oregon System, p. 4. 

2 For a full discussion of the "working of the Oregon system, its 
advantages and its perils, see Eaton, The Oregon System. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN REPUBLICAN PARTY 69 

and then in a speech at Winona had the effrontery, as 
his opponents put it, to declare the Payne- Aldrich tariff 
the best tariff bill ever enacted. ". . . President Taft's 
sponsorship for the administration railroad bill, with 
its commerce court, its repeal of the anti-trust act in 
its application to railroads, and its legalizing of all 
watered railroad capitalization; his course regarding 
Ballinger and the Cunningham claims, and the subter- 
fuges resorted to by his administration in defense of 
Ballinger ; his attempt to foist upon the country a sham 
reciprocity measure ; his complete surrender to the legis- 
lative reactionary program of Aldrich and Cannon and 
the discredited representatives of special interests who 
had so long managed congressional legislation, ren- 
dered it utterly impossible for the progressive Repub- 
licans of the country to support him for reelection." 1 

It was the tariff session of 1909, however, which 
more than any other single factor, drew the line sharper 
between progressives and reactionaries and defined the 
progressive movement for the country. From the first, 
a small group of progressive Republicans, including 
Beveridge, Bristow, Clapp, Cummins, Dolliver, and La 
Follette, opposed the bill which the Payne-Aldrich 
forces planned to foist upon the people. All kinds of 
pressure were brought to bear upon these and other op- 
ponents of the measure to make them yield. They were 
invited to take breakfast with the President and talk it 
over ; when persuasion failed they were threatened with 
loss of patronage, and in some instances the threat was 
carried out. When La Follette protested against these 
unfair tactics and asked that certain appointments be 
made, the President replied that he could not take the 
matter up "until after the tariff bill is passed." 2 

x La Follette, Autobiography, pp. 477 et seq. 
*Ibia. f p. 454. 



70 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

Convinced that the time for an open break with the 
administration had come, a few progressive senators 
and members of the House of Representatives joined 
together to form the National Progressive Republican 
League. The object of the League was stated to be "the 
promotion of popular government and progressive legis- 
lation." 1 The specific reforms advocated were : 

(1) The election of United States senators by di- 

rect vote of the people. 

(2) Direct primaries for the nomination of elec- 

tive officials. 

(3) The direct election of delegates to national 

conventions with opportunity for the voter 
to express his choice for President and 
Vice-President. 

(4) Amendments to state constitutions providing 

for the initiative, referendum and recall. 

(5) A thorough-going corrupt practices act. 

The formation of this League, which grew with as- 
tonishing rapidity and was largely instrumental in ob- 
taining reform legislation in the early part of 1912, 
forms at once the culmination of the progressive move- 
ment in the Republican party and the beginning of the 
new Progressive party. It clearly showed that there 
was no room for real progressives in the Republican 
party as it was then constituted and forced the issue 
of regeneration of the old party or the formation of a 
new one. 

x La Follette, Autobiography, pp. 495 et seq. 



CHAPTEE IV 

THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN THE PROGRESSIVE 
PARTY 

From the beginning of the present century down to 
the presidential campaign of 1912, the two great politi- 
cal parties of the country, the Democratic and the Re- 
publican, divided less and less on clear-cut issues. Both 
parties favored a revision of the tariff, both favored 
control of corporations, both favored an improved cur- 
rency; but both favored them in a meaningless way. 
Within the parties, however, there were issues which, 
growing more and more definite, threatened to make the 
differences between the two factions within each party 
more pronounced than the differences between the par- 
ties themselves. It has already been pointed out how 
in the Republican and Democratic parties there grew 
up a body of men devoted to progressive ideals who in- 
sisted on a redefinition of the fundamental issues that 
would array on one side those who believed in govern- 
ment by the citizens of the nation and on the other 
those who believed in government by the special in- 
terests. In the Democratic party an attempt was made 
to organize these men by forming the Democratic Fed- 
eration and adopting a definite set of principles; and 
similar action was taken in the Republican party by 
organizing the National Progressive Republican League 
already referred to. 1 
x See Chapter III. 

71 



72 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

For years, however, the progressive elements con- 
fined their efforts to an attempt to reform their respec- 
tive parties from within. The tenacity with which 
men cling to parties and party traditions has always 
been a most formidable obstacle in the way of independ- 
ent reform movements. Men will brook almost any 
treatment and accept any compromise to ward off the 
vengeance of the organization or to avoid being read 
ont of the party. And so for years while special inter- 
ests everywhere had long since ceased to recognize party 
lines and bribed the leaders of both parties without 
discrimination or favor; and while the machine forces 
of both parties secretly united while ostensibly opposing 
each other and thus played on party affiliations and 
affections, the rank and file of the parties were loyal 
and voted regularly under their respective party em- 
blems. 

Such a condition of affairs, however, could not con- 
tinue. Little by little the progressive, anti-machine 
men of both parties realized that in order to accomplish 
anything they must abandon party lines as the reaction- 
ary machine men of both parties did, and combine. 
And, when the progressive Democrats and insurgent 
Republicans had combined a few times to defeat some 
obnoxious bill proposed by the representatives of special 
interests, they began to find that they had more in com- 
mon with each other than with the other members of 
their own parties, and thus the foundation was laid for 
the construction of a new party standing for new prin- 
ciples and new ideals. 

The first conspicuous instance of the breaking down 
of party lines and the union of the progressive forces of 
both parties on a common issue took place in the ex- 
traordinary session of Congress in 1909, called for the 
purpose of revising the tariff. The Eepublican plat- 



PEOGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN PROGRESSIVE PARTY 73 

form of 1908 had promised a revision of the tariff and 
Taft — with everyone else — had interpreted that to mean 
a revision downward. The House of Representatives, 
however, controlled by Cannon, Payne, and others of 
that ilk, drafted and sent to the Senate a tariff bill that 
made substantial increases on many important articles. 
Aldrich, the Republican leader in the Senate, kept the 
bill in committee forty-eight hours and then reported it 
with substantial amendments, raising many of the du- 
ties above those in the House bill and offering no ex- 
planation of the changes. Aldrich further demanded 
immediate consideration of the bill, hoping to be able 
to have it passed before its real character was disclosed. 
A small group of progressives, including La Follette, 
Dolliver, Beveridge, Clapp, Dixon, Bourne, Borah, 
Cummins, and Bristow, opposed the proposition to con- 
sider the bill at once and managed to postpone the final 
passage until the bill had been freely discussed. For 
months this small band of progressives beyond the pale 
of the party organization fought the tariff bill. They 
forced the real issue home to the public and made it 
clear that the leaders in both houses of Congress had 
"sold out" to the interests. "The extra tariff session," 
says La Follette in his Autobiography, 1 "did more to 
give the progressive movement a clear definition in the 
public mind than any one thing that has transpired in 
Congress." 

Another instance of the breaking down of party lines 
that attracted national attention came in the House of 
Representatives in 1910, when an attempt was made to 
curtail the powers of Cannon, Speaker of the House. 
The fight here was not so much against Cannon per- 
sonally as it was against a system which had been in 
vogue for years and which Cannon used with conspicu- 

X P. 447. 



74 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

ous effectiveness. It had long been the custom in the 
House of Representatives for the Speaker to appoint a 
small committee, of which he himself was a member, 
to formulate rules to govern legislative procedure. This 
committee, known as the Committee on Rules, could 
limit the time given to individual members of the House 
for discussion of bills, could determine under what cir- 
cumstances members were to be recognized, how com- 
mittees were to be chosen, and in general control the 
methods of procedure. 

To tear down this system, insurgent Republicans and 
progressive Democrats broke loose from party lines and 
joined forces. Representative George W. Xorris of 
Xebraska in March, 1910, introduced a resolution to 
increase the number on the Committee on Rules to ten 
— six from the majority and four from the minority — 
and to exclude the Speaker from membership. 1 After 
a heated discussion, the resolution was adopted, 191 to 
15 6. 2 Speaker Cannon, who admitted that he had been 
taken by surprise in the matter, interpreted its true sig- 
nificance when, after the vote was taken, he said, 
". . . The assault upon the Speaker of the House by the 
minority (the Democrats) supplemented by the efforts 
of the so-called insurgents, shows that the Democratic 
minority, aided by a number of so-called insurgents, 
constituting 15 per cent, of the majority party in the 
House, is now in the majority, and that the Speaker of 
the House is not in harmony with the actual majority of 
the House as evidenced by the vote just taken." 3 After 

1 For the full resolution, see Congressional Record, Vol. XLV, 
part 4, p. 3429. 

2 Hid., p. 3436. 

z Tbid., 3437. A sense of humor impels me to quote the follow- 
ing from the same speech: "The Speaker (Cannon) has always 
believed in and bowed to the will of the majority, in convention, in 
caucus, and in the legislative hall, and to-day profoundly believes 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN PROGRESSIVE PARTY 75 

the House had overruled Speaker Cannon on the reso- 
lution to amend the rules, another resolution to declare 
the office of Speaker vacant and proceed to the election 
of a Speaker was offered. This resolution, however, 
was defeated by a vote of 192 to 155. x 

These two instances — the contest in the Senate and 
the fight in the House over the rules — although they are 
by no means the only ones that could be cited, never- 
theless show clearly that in 1910 there was a strong de- 
termination in the minds of the progressives of both the 
old parties to combine to carry out progressive measures 
even if they had to break up their respective parties in 
the process. As early as 1911 there was a tacit under- 
standing among the progressives of the two parties that 
they would fight their battle for party reformation sepa- 
rately in their respective parties in the campaign of 
1912, but that, if both were beaten, they would unite to 
form a third party. 

The differences between the two factions within the 
Republican and Democratic parties had greater oppor- 
tunity to develop and manifest themselves in the early 
part of 1912 than in any previous presidential cam- 
paign by reason of the fact that a number of states held 
presidential preference primaries in that year. These 
primaries allowed the voter, in choosing delegates to the 
national convention, to pledge them to vote for desig- 
nated candidates for President and Vice-President. 
The practical result of this system was to move forward 
by several months the contest for delegates and to force 

that to act otherwise is to disorganize parties, is to prevent co- 
herent action in any legislative body, is to make impossible the 
reflection of the wishes of the people in statutes and in laws." 

1 It is interesting to note that Norris, who had introduced the 
resolution to break Cannon's power over the Committee on Rules, 
voted to retain Cannon as Speaker, showing thereby his reluctance 
to break down party lines and give the other side any advantage. 



76 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

the fight before the people instead of within the four 
walls of a national committee room or convention hall. 
Consequently, in every state in which such primaries 
were held, the candidates of the various factions made 
speeches, distributed literature,, and canvassed the 
voters : and. inasmuch as the issues between the con- 
servatives and progressives in the two parties were more 
clear cut than issues frequently are between the differ- 
ent parties, it is fair to say that in almost every state 
where preference primaries were held there was washed 
a campaign that for intensity of feeling and warmth of 
argument rivaled most contests for the presidency it- 
self. 1 

In the Eepublican party, preparations were made 
very early to insure the nomination of a progressive in 
1912. In April. 1911, there was held in Washington 
a conference of leading progressive Eepublicans at 
which it was proposed that Senator La Toilette lead the 
fight against Taft for the Eepublican nomination. In 
July La Follette's campaign got actively under way. 
Progressive headquarters were opened in Washington, 
progressive clubs were organized in a number of the 
states, thousands of circular letters were sent out. and 
the services of a corps of speakers obtained. In the late 
autumn and winter La Follette himself made an ex- 
tended speaking campaign in Ohio, Michigan, and Illi- 
nois, addressing thousands and being everywhere 
greeted with the greatest enthusiasm. On February 2, 
La Follette attended a banquet of the Periodical Pub- 
lishers' Association in Philadelphia and made a long 
speech, in which he called attention to the danger that 
threatened the press and magazines of the country of 

1 The states that held presidential preference primaries in 1912 
are: Oregon, Wisconsin, North Dakota. Nebraska, California, New 
Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts. South Dakota, and Maryland. 



PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT IN PEO&EESSIVE PAETY 77 

being controlled by their advertisers for sinister pur- 
poses. The speech was not up to La Follette's usual 
high standard; he failed to hold his audience and he 
appeared weak and run-down from overwork. Shortly 
after the speech was delivered, Pinchot, who had been 
supporting La Follette and his candidacy, together with 
other prominent progressives, announced that La Fol- 
lette's physical condition made it impossible for him to 
continue a candidate. These men thereupon trans- 
ferred their allegiance to Roosevelt. 

This, of course, was not the first time Roosevelt's 
name had been seriously considered by progressive Re- 
publicans as the most effective one to oppose to Taft. 
For months, in fact ever since Roosevelt's return from 
Africa, there had been persistent rumors that he would 
be a candidate for the presidency again if only sufficient 
pressure of the right kind could be brought to bear upon 
him. It is also said by many that he was willing to 
meet the pressure halfway. Be that as it may, on 
February 26, 1912, Roosevelt announced that he would 
accept the nomination if it were offered to him by the 
Republican presidential convention. 

Roosevelt's course in waiting until the last moment 
to announce his intention to become a candidate after 
repeated statements that under no circumstances would 
he run has been vigorously denounced and variously 
explained. La Follette, whose fairness in the matter 
is subject to impeachment because of the great personal 
stake involved, suggests that Roosevelt all along was 
playing the role of a political trimmer waiting to see 
which way the wind would blow. According to the 
Wisconsin senator, Roosevelt never had been a progres- 
sive in the true sense of the term. He had vacillated 
and compromised. When he returned from Africa, 
however, in 1910, and found progressive sentiment 



78 THE PEOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

strong, he decided to take advantage of it for his own 
advancement. Believing, however, that 1912 would be 
a Democratic year and unwilling to be defeated, Roose- 
velt proposed that Taft should be nominated and al- 
lowed to go down to defeat at the polls. Impressed 
with the amount and sincerity of progressive sentiment 
which he encountered in a speaking tour in 1911, Roose- 
velt changed his mind about 1912 being a Democratic 
year and saw possibilities of a Republican victory. He 
was still unwilling, though, to test his own strength 
against Taft and so suggested that La Follette run. 
When La Follette was everywhere received by large, 
enthusiastic crowds, Roosevelt became convinced, so La 
Follette argues, that he himself could win; and there- 
upon gave the word to his followers to drop La Follette 
and turn over their organization to him. The oppor- 
tunity came after the speech in Philadelphia when La 
Follette's temporary illness was used as a pretext for 
withdrawing from his support. 

Although there is no full explanation on the sub- 
ject from Roosevelt, the facts that are known make it 
extremely unlikely that La Follette's analysis of Roose- 
velt's motives is entirely correct. \Tvoosevelt, it is true, 
had never been a progressive in the same sense that La 
Follette had. While La Follette had been rigidly un- 
compromising in his relations with special interests, 
Roosevelt had yielded whenever it was possible to forge 
ahead by doing so. Roosevelt fought consistently for 
good government and human rights step by step, inter- 
preting the cause in terms of existing needs and always 
keeping just a little in advance. La Follette, on the 
other hand, laid down his program far ahead and stuck 
to it with savage persistence and heroic fidelity.] It is 
because of these differences that the two men have never 
been able fully to understand each other ; as was so well 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN PROGRESSIVE PARTY 79 

shown when La Follette belittled Roosevelt's success in 
inducing Congress to pass in 1907 the Dolliver-Hep- 
burn Railway Rate Bill and condemned it as a weak 
compromise when in the estimate of men all over the 
country it stood as a magnificent victory over a reac- 
tionary Congress. 

According to those who support Roosevelt in the dis- 
pute, w T her_ Roosevelt returned from Africa in 1910, 
his mind was open on political questions and he denied 
his intention to run for the presidency again with no 
mental reservation. A great movement had developed 
during his absence from the country, and he asked for 
time to consider it. His first conclusion was that all 
efforts should be made to harmonize the conflicting ele- 
ments in the Republican party and suppress differences ; 
and in conformity with that conclusion he placed him- 
self in the inconsistent position of openly attacking and 
defying the bosses in New York State in 1910 and at 
the same time accepting a stand-pat platform. As time 
went on it became evident to Roosevelt that the differ- 
ences between the two elements of the Republican party 
were irreconcilable and an open conflict unavoidable; 
and when it came to a decision Roosevelt chose to sup- 
port the progressive cause. It is pointed out in support 
of this view that in 1910, even before he returned to 
America, tremendous pressure was brought to bear upon 
Roosevelt to head the fight against Taft. It is only 
partly true that the seven governors wrote to Roose- 
velt asking him to run because they had been invited to 
do so. I Once committed to a movement against the ad- 
ministration, the progressives in the Republican party 
wanted to do what they could to insure its success ; and 
that success depended upon nothing more than upon a 
leader who was popular with the people and who could 
get votes. No man was better suited for this purpose 



80 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

than Roosevelt. La Follette was new. comparatively 
unknown as a national figure, uncompromising and at 
times untactful. Such a man, by a speech or an act, 
would be likely to do irreparable injury to the cause. 
So reasoned many progressives; and. reasoning thus, 
they increased the pressure upon Eoosevelt to run. It 
was natural and inevitable that, in the end. Eoosevelt 
should accept ; and so. while the defenders of Eoosevelt 
do not assert that Eoosevelt waited calmly until the 
nomination was thrust upon him, they protest against 
the charge that he dissimulated and pretended, know- 
ing all the time that he intended to run. 

The announcement of Roosevelt's candidacy and the 
transfer to him of many of La Follette' s influential 
supporters left the latter with only a few backers and 
reduced the campaign for the most part to a contest 
between Eoosevelt and Taft. Because of the close per- 
sonal relations these two had long sustained, the de- 
bates were unusually bitter, the contestants in many in- 
stances stooping to invective and vituperation instead 
of discussing principles. In spite of this fact, the 
issues grew clearer and clearer. Although, in the minds 
of many. Eoosevelt was leading a personal fight for 
restoration to power, the masses of the people saw in the 
canvass a conflict between privilege and democracy for 
the control of the presidency for the ensuing four years. 

The crisis came in the national convention held at 
Chicago from June lSth to June 22nd, The delegates 
to the convention were chiefly of three classes : those 
who had been elected in state conventions: those who 
had been elected by a direct vote of the people: and 
those who had been elected by a direct vote of the peo- 
ple under pledges to vote for designated candidates for 
President and Vice-President, Of these classes. Taft, 
through the strength and influence of the federal ma- 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN PROGRESSIVE PARTY 81 

chine, controlled the first. Roosevelt, because of his 
effective campaigning and great popularity, controlled 
the two others. It was apparent, as soon as the conven- 
tion met, that the contest between Eoosevelt and Taft 
would be close. Neither candidate had a clear majority 
of delegates whose seats were uncontested and the fight 
soon centered on these contested delegates. The Repub- 
lican National Committee, which had been appointed 
by the preceding convention four years before and 
which was undoubtedly controlled by Taft, decided 
a sufficient number of cases in his favor to insure him 
a majority. The Roosevelt faction claimed that these 
decisions were not made in good faith, that the nomi- 
nation had been stolen, and withdrew from the con- 
vention. 

Fortunately, both sides of the case have been pre- 
sented, the one in favor of Roosevelt by himself in an 
editorial entitled a Thou Shalt Not Steal," in the Out- 
look of July 12, 1913; and the other by La Follette in 
his Autobiography. 1 There were 1,078 delegates to the 
convention. Five hundred forty were necessary to 
nominate. On the final vote Taft received 561, or 
21 more than the necessary majority. The burden of 
Roosevelt's argument is not that he (Roosevelt) was en- 
titled to a majority of the delegates, but that Taft's 
majority was not honest. "More than enough delegates 
to make up Mr. Taft's majority in the convention," he 
says, "were seated there by contests so transparently 
fraudulent that honest doubt could not, and did not, 
exist in regard to them. President Taft was renomi- 
nated by a majority of barely twenty-one votes, and two 
of these were publicly raped at the last moment from 
Massachusetts. If, therefore, more than nineteen or 
twenty-one of his votes were demonstrably fraudulent, 

1 Pp. 658 et seq. 



82 THE PEOGEESSIVE movement 

all claim to an honest majority disappears." He then 
goes on to show that more than nineteen or twenty-one 
votes cast for Taft were fraudulent and that Taft's 
majority ? therefore, was not honest. 

The burden of La Toilette's proof, on the other hand, 
is not that Taft was honestly nominated, but that Roose- 
velt could not possibly claim a majority of the dele- 
gates. According to the analysis presented by La Fol- 
lette, Roosevelt's actual strength in the convention was 
451. There were in all 105 contests involving 248 seats. 
Of these 248 disputed delegates, 164 were given to Taft 
and 19 to Roosevelt without objection on either side. 
That left 65 delegates in dispute. The Roosevelt mem- 
bers of the committee themselves protested against seat- 
ing but 72 Taft delegates. La Follette concludes that 
"there was no basis for the claim that a majority of the 
delegates honestly elected to the National Convention 
were for Roosevelt ; that even if the entire 72 covered 
by the Hadley resolution had been given to Roosevelt, 
he would not have had enough to nominate him. . . ." * 

The conclusion of the whole matter seems to be that 
neither Roosevelt nor Taft had enough honestly elected 
delegates to nominate him; that Taft through the Na- 
tional Committee, which he controlled, had sufficient 
doubtful cases resolved in his favor to change his minor- 
ity into a majority. Whether the decisions in these 
cases were dishonest it is difficult to say. Without 
doubt, the same steam-roller methods that had been used 
in other conventions were used here ; but because of the 
closeness of the contest and the bitterness of the feeling 
they were more conspicuous and more obnoxious than 
ever before. 

Realizing that Taft by the use of steam-roller methods 
could dominate the convention and bring about his own 

*La Follette, Autobiography, p. 664. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN PROGRESSIVE PARTY 83 

nomination, most of the Roosevelt delegates refused to 
vote ; and, after Taft was declared nominated, withdrew 
with their followers to a rump convention to lay plans 
for future action. In a speech delivered before the sec- 
ond convention, Roosevelt directed the delegates to re- 
turn to their districts; and, after sounding the senti- 
ment of the people, to return to Chicago again on Au- 
gust 5. If the reports made at that time showed suffi- 
cient interest to warrant it, Roosevelt urged that a new 
political party should be established. 

Meanwhile, in the latter part of June, the Democratic 
Convention was held in Baltimore. Bryan, who had 
attended the Chicago Convention as a newspaper corre- 
spondent and had witnessed the influence exerted there 
by the machine, determined to force the issue in the 
Democratic party. He introduced a resolution putting 
the convention on record as opposed to the nomination 
of any man supported by the Morgan-Ryan-Belmont in- 
terests and refused to support Clark because he was 
backed by the corporations and seekers of special privi- 
lege. So tense was the situation at Baltimore that, had 
it not been for the third party threatening them, the 
machine elements would probably have refused to yield 
and would have driven the reformers from the party. 
But Bryan used Roosevelt's prospective party as a club 
to bring the reactionaries into line. If the conserva- 
tives controlled, the progressives were certain to desert 
to the new organization. As it was, had it not been for 
the rule that a two-thirds vote was necessary to nomi- 
nate, Clark would have been nominated on the tenth 
ballot and the progressives in all probability would have 
gone over to the new party in a body. Bryan, how- 
ever, by his skillful tactics managed to secure the nomi- 
nation of Wilson and keep the Democratic party intact. 

There seemed to be much less need of the establish- 



84 THE PBOGBESSIYE MOVEMENT 

ment of a third party on the first of August than there 
had been on the first of June. In June there was a 
strong likelihood that the conservative forces would win 
in both parties and thus drive the progressives to com- 
bine. But in August no such danger threatened. The 
Democrats had nominated a progressive of the advanced 
type who was a bitter opponent of boss rule and ma- 
chine politics and who had carried his reforms into 
practice. Opposed to him was Taft, the nominee of the 
Republican party, a confessed reactionary drawing to 
himself all those who favored the perpetuation of the 
old regime. The issues seemed as clearly drawn as 
they could be. 

Nevertheless, when the Roosevelt delegates, accom- 
panied by a host of followers who had been attracted 
to the movement since the convention in June, met in 
Chicago on August 5, they reported that a canvass of 
the sentiment of the voters in their respective districts 
indicated a demand for a third party. With enthusiasm 
and solemn consecration to high purposes, such as had 
never before been witnessed in a national convention, 
the delegates organized the new party, giving to it the 
name National Progressive. In a remarkable speech, 
which he called his "Confession of Faith," Roosevelt 
outlined the purposes of the new party. His speech em- 
braced practically the entire progressive program. He 
emphasized as of first importance the restoration of 
government to the people through the use of the devices 
of direct legislation. He pointed out the impotence of 
the two old parties, mere "husks," boss-ridden and 
manipulated by special interests, to meet the great so- 
cial and economic revolution through which the coun- 
try is passing ; and concluded by insisting that, because 
of its freedom from damaging alliances with corpora- 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN PROGRESSIVE PARTY 85 

tions and special privileges, the new party was the only 
political party adapted to meet the present crisis. 

Roosevelt was nominated for President and Johnson 
for Vice-President by acclamation. The most signifi- 
cant incident connected with Roosevelt's nomination 
was the seconding speech made by Jane Addams of Chi- 
cago. This speech marked the entrance of women into 
national politics in a new sense, and, in addition- to giv- 
ing tremendous impetus to the suffrage movement, drew 
to the Progressive party the support of thousands of 
women in those states where women have the right to 
vote. 

The platform adopted by the new party was in many 
respects unique. It was called "A Contract with the 
People," and set forth in great detail the measures 
which would be passed if the party were victorious in 
the election. Among the measures advocated to restore 
government to the people were: direct primaries, na- 
tion-wide preferential primaries for candidates for the 
presidency, direct election of United States senators, 
the initiative, the referendum, the recall, and an easier 
method of amending the federal constitution. Under 
"Social and Industrial Justice" the platform recom- 
mends legislation designed to prevent "industrial acci- 
dents, occupational diseases, overwork, involuntary un- 
employment and other injurious effects incident to mod- 
ern industry." Prohibition of child-labor, minimum 
wage laws, the eight-hour day, publicity in regard to 
working conditions, compensation for industrial acci- 
dents, and continuation schools of industrial education 
are some of the other reforms urged under the same 
heading. With regard to corporations, the platform 
favors "the establishment of a strong federal adminis- 
trative commission of high standing, which shall main- 
tain permanent active supervision over industrial cor- 



86 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

porations engaged in interstate commerce . . . doing 
for them what the government now does for the national 
banks, and what is now done for the railroads by the 
Interstate Commerce Commission." Declarations on 
other subjects follow, among the most important of 
which are the tariff, the high cost of living, currency, 
conservation, waterways, Alaska, equal suffrage, the 
courts, country life, inheritance and income taxes, and 
government supervision over investments. Xever be- 
fore had an important political party taken up in its 
platform so many vital issues in such a definite way. 

With these candidates and this platform, after an 
existence of about three months, during which time it 
had to organize, from national committee down to elec- 
tion district, the Xational Progressive party polled 
more than four million votes. It is interesting to specu- 
late as to the sources whence these votes came. The 
great bulk of the vote probably came from the Repub- 
lican party. Tafts vote in 1908 had been 7,678,908; 
that of Roosevelt and Taft combined in 1912 amounted 
to very nearly the same, 7,604,463, indicating that the 
defections were chiefly from the Republicans. There 
were many Republicans who, although progressives, 
stuck to the old party or voted for Wilson. The most 
important members of this group, of course, were La 
Follette and his followers, who could hardly be ex- 
pected to support the new party after the treatment they 
had received before the primaries. Then there were 
many Republicans who do not come in the La Follette 
category, who sympathized with the new party, but 
voted against it because of antipathy toward Roosevelt 
personally. 

From the Democratic ranks the new party drew com- 
paratively few. Wilson's vote in 1912 was 6,293,019, 
116,085 fewer than were cast for Bryan in 1908. Most 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN PROGRESSIVE PARTY 87 

Democrats were quite content to remain within the 
party and allow the Republicans and progressives to 
kill each other off. Some Democrats, of course, voted 
for Roosevelt because of his great personality just as 
some Eepublicans voted against him because of per- 
sonal dislike; but they were very few. 

It would be interesting and instructive to know ap- 
proximately how many votes the Progressive party cost 
socialism, but no estimate is possible. The Socialist 
vote in 1912 was 901,873, a gain of 481,080 over that 
of 1908; but it is tempting, though profitless, to specu- 
late on what it might have been had not the Progressive 
party entered the field. Offering as it did an oppor- 
tunity to enroll in a new party, apparently free from 
corruption and bossism, emphasizing as it did the need 
of extending the activities of government to relieve so- 
cial and economic distress, it is safe to say that the Pro- 
gressive party appealed to thousands of Republicans, 
Democrats and Independents who were about to seek in 
socialism the only available remedy for the existing 
political ills. 

What the future of the Progressive party will be, and 
how many of these converts it will hold, remains to be 
seen. Present indications seem to point to the perma- 
nency of the movement. Greater opportunity to make 
important constructive contributions to political reform 
is offered to the new party than is offered to any of the 
older parties; greater than is offered to either the Re- 
publican or the Democratic party, because it is difficult 
for them to free themselves from the traditions and 
issues of the past ; greater than is offered to the Prohi- 
bition or the Socialist party, because they are dis- 
trusted on account of their reputation for extreme radi- 
calism and the impracticability of their programs. The 
immediate question that is being presented to the lead- 



88 THE PKOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

ers of the Progressives is whether it would not be well 
to return to the Kepublican party, from which the new 
party largely sprang, and reform it from within. It 
is only in this way, point out the more practical poli- 
ticians in both parties, that victory can be wrested from 
the Democrats. That a fair number of Progressives, 
who voted against the Kepublican party in 1912 more 
as a protest against party corruption and misrule than 
as an indication that they had abandoned the party en- 
tirely, have returned, is, of course, quite true. But it 
seems altogether likely that the greater number of those 
who joined the new party will remain. That this is 
likely is shown not only by the fact that the new party 
controls several of the largest states, but also by the 
fact that in states where it is comparatively weak, as in 
JSTew York, thorough party organization has been ef- 
fected. Lecture bureaus, educational bureaus, and 
legislative drafting bureaus have been formed for the 
purpose of aiding in the solution of vital social and 
economic problems of modern life so far as they are 
affected by government. 1 Untrammeled by the issues 
of the past, with a keen realization of present political 
needs and a determination to meet those needs, the 
Progressive party has before it a bright future and seems 
destined to fill an important place in the political life 
of the nation. 

1 For example, in New York State, the legislative committee 
of the National Progressive party has drafted, among other 
bills, a minimum -wage act, a direct primary law and a Massa- 
chusetts Ballot act. All bills drafted by the committee are in- 
troduced into the legislature by some Progressive member. 



CHAPTER V 

THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN THE SOCIALIST PARTY 

The progressive movement in the Socialist party dif- 
fers from the progressive movement in the Democratic 
and Republican parties, not so much in the essentials 
of the movement as in the emphasis placed upon them. 
Progressives in the Democratic and Republican parties, 
although they appreciate the need of extending the 
functions of government, emphasize primarily the elim- 
ination of organized special influence and the modifica- 
tion of the structure of government with a view to 
making it more easily controllable by the people. The 
Socialist party, on the other hand, places the primary 
emphasis on the desirability of extending the functions 
and activities of government in the interests of the in- 
dividual and looks upon the removal of corruption and 
the simplification of government as mere means to that 
end. 

The progressive movement in the Socialist party dif- 
fers from the progressive movement in the Progressive 
party, with which it is most readily compared, not so 
much in the emphasis placed upon any single phase of 
the movement as opposed to the other phases, as in the 
kind and amount of emphasis placed upon one phase; 
i. e., the extension of the activities of government. Both 
the Progressive and Socialist parties believe in freeing 
government from special influence, in making it more 

89 



'90 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

responsive to public opinion and in insisting upon its 
use to relieve social and economic distress. Both par- 
ties agree further in regarding the first two of these 
phases of the movement as subordinate to the third. 
But they differ fundamentally with regard to the ex- 
tent to which, the purposes for which, and the methods 
by which the activities of government should be in- 
creased. 

"While the Progressive party and, in an even greater 
degree, the Kepublican and Democratic parties consider 
the normal state of society that in which the individual 
does all things for himself and look upon the govern- 
ment as a power to be invoked only when individuals 
cannot adequately take care of their own interests, the 
Socialist party regards the ideal and normal state of 
society that in which all functions are exercised by the 
state, and accepts the present condition of affairs as an 
unfortunate makeshift which must sooner or later be 
abandoned. The Socialist and Progressive parties both 
have a place in the progressive movement, but they en- 
ter it from opposite directions. Socialists start with a 
complete system of social cooperation and accept partic- 
ular measures that extend governmental activities, such 
as workingmen's compensation or mothers' pensions, as 
steps in the right direction, but nevertheless steps only. 
The Progressive party starts from complete individual- 
ism as a base and accepts any remedial legislation, not 
as a temporary expedient, but as an end in itself. With 
the Socialist party, the burden of proof is on the person 
who opposes an enlargement of governmental func- 
tions to show that it is not needed. With the Progres- 
sive party, the burden of proof is on the person who 
proposes the enlargement to show that it is essential. 

The Progressive and Socialist parties differ, more- 
over, with respect to the purpose that should prompt 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN SOCIALIST PARTY 91 

an increase in governmental activities. The socialism 
of to-day would extend the functions of government 
primarily in the interests of the laboring classes by 
giving to them the control of the means of production 
and distribution. The socialist movement is every- 
where recognized as an outgrowth of the modern indus- 
trial system and is inseparably connected with labor. 
With the farmer, the banker, the merchant, it has little 
or nothing to do. Socialists are divided among them- 
selves as to whether farms should be owned and man- 
aged cooperatively. Only a sentence is given in the 
party platform to the subject of an improved banking 
or currency system to aid the banker or the merchant. 
On the contrary, the Socialist party in its platform 
declares that it is "the political expression of the eco- 
nomic interests of the workers. Its defeats have been 
their defeats and its victories their victories. ... In 
the face of the economic and political aggressions of 
the capitalist class, the only reliance left the workers 
is that of their economic organizations and their po- 
litical power. By the intelligent and class-conscious use 
of these, they may resist successfully the capitalist 
class, break the fetters of wage-slavery, and fit them- 
selves for future society which is to displace the capi- 
talist system." 1 

And again, "In the defeat or victory of the working 
class party in this new struggle for freedom lies the 
defeat or triumph of the common people of all economic 
groups, as well as the failure or the triumph of popular 
government." 2 

Socialists, so far as they propose to use government 
in the interests of a special class, are doing almost pre- 
cisely what the Eepublicans and Democrats have al- 

1 Socialist party platform, 1912. 
3 Ibid. 



92 TH E PB0GRES3IYE MOVEMENT 

ready succeeded in accomplishing, the only difference 
being that the Kepublicans and Democrats controlled 
government in the interests of the capitalist class, while 
Socialists would control it for the workers. 

The progressive movement, in urging an extension of 
governmental functions, does so without having any par- 
ticular class in mind. Its aim is to introduce reme- 
dies where remedies are needed, to reconcile conflicting 
interests, to destroy no classes and to recognize none. 
It would, therefore, favor a proposal to aid the farmer 
by a country life commission, the banker by improved 
currency laws, and the laborer by compensation, pen- 
sion, and insurance laws. The progressive movement 
believes that if the arteries of government are freed 
from impurities, if a majority of the people are given 
the opportunity to express themselves clearly and easily, 
no class legislation will result and that the best inter- 
ests of all will be conserved. 

The difference in the methods pursued by the Pro- 
gressive and Socialist parties in effecting their aims, 
arises directly from the difference in their conception 
of governmental intervention in individual affairs. 
Like Ibsen's Brand, the thorough-going' Socialist will 
have "all or nothing." He outlines his whole program, 
which is nothing short of the socialization of the most- 
important activities now carried on by individuals, and 
adheres strictly to it. He consents to favor specific 
reforms, but does it with reluctance and suspicion. 
Speaking- of public ownership of public utilities, the 
party platform says: "We warn the working class 
against so-called public-ownership movements as an at- 
tempt of the capitalist class to secure governmental con- 
trol of public utilities for the purpose of obtaining 
greater security in the exploitation of other industries 
and not for the amelioration of the conditions of the 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN SOCIALIST PARTY 93 

working class." 1 There is a tendency to reject every- 
thing that does not measure up fully to the Socialist 
standard. 

Just as the history of the progressive movement in 
the Republican, Democratic, and Progressive parties 
has been the history of a development from extreme 
individualism toward a moderate socialization of ac- 
tivities, so the history of the progressive movement 
in the Socialist party has been the history of a develop- 
ment from extreme socialization toward a moderate in- 
dividualism. And just as the members of the other 
parties were forced by the complex conditions of mod- 
ern industrial life to conclude that there are many func- 
tions which individuals cannot exercise effectively 
alone ; so the members of the Socialist party have been 
forced by the same complex conditions to conclude 
that there are many things that individuals cannot 
do well together. Beginning with an insistence upon 
the complete socialization of all activities, socialism 
has passed through a number of stages, each one of 
which has been characterized by a weaker insistence 
upon its original principles and a fuller appreciation 
of the practical difficulties involved in carrying them 
into effect. 

The first of these phases through which socialism in 
this country passed was marked by an emphasis on 
the need of socializing all activities and a refusal to 
accept any compromise. Finding it impossible to 
carry out their idea under the conditions of normal 
society, many socialists withdrew from it and estab- 
lished independent communities of their own. The com- 
munities thus established were chiefly of two kinds: 
sectarian, composed of those who sought freedom 
of worship chiefly and regarded the socialization of 

1 Hillquit, History of Socialism in the United States, p. 351. 



94 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

activities as secondary; and non-sectarian, made up of 
men who were eager to found settlements that should 
be purely communistic. 

The extremes to which the extension of the func- 
tions of government or society was carried in the early 
period of socialism are clearly shown in the practices 
of these communities. Although there was a consider- 
able number and the customs varied greatly, in most 
instances, the members labored for the community as 
a whole, in some cases being assigned daily tasks by 
the governing board of the community. All property 
was owned in common and the communistic theory was 
sometimes extended to persons, polygamy and polyandry 
taking the place of monogamy. Food, clothing, and 
other necessaries were taken from the common store 
in amounts that were determined not by the value 
of the service rendered to the community but . by the 
need to continue that work effectively. Government 
and society were supreme. 

Just as the extreme individualism that prevailed 
prior to the Civil War could not continue as society 
became more complex, so these little communistic set- 
tlements had to go for the same reason. And even 
if there had been no pressure from without, they prob- 
ably would have been destroyed before long by dissen- 
sions within. As it was, in a number of communities, 
members refused to live up to the standards proposed ; 
in one case a prominent member defaulted with a large 
sum of money ; members tired of the monotonous work 
and demanded a division of the community's property. 1 

It is noteworthy, too, that this experiment in the 
complete socialization of activities failed under ideal 
conditions; and that the few successful communities 
succeeded because they abandoned communism and not 

1 See Hillquit, History of Socialism in United States, pp. 29-145. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN SOCIALIST PARTY 95 

because they adhered to it. Speaking of the success 
of some of the sectarian communities, Hillquit says: 
". . . Their communism was but a secondary incident 
to their existence, and whenever their material interests 
required, they sacrificed it, without compunction of con- 
science. . . . Their material success was thus to a large 
degree due not to their communism, but to their de- 
parture from communism." 1 

Forced by changing conditions and a sense of failure 
to abandon the ideal of complete socialization which it 
had hoped to realize in these Utopian communities, so- 
cialism entered upon the second stage of its develop- 
ment. The growth of the modern factory system had 
brought with it a radical change in the condition of 
the working classes. Instead of being free economic 
agents owning their tools and working when and for 
whom they chose, they became, as the socialists alleged, 
economic "slaves" and worked with the tools and at 
the bidding of another. To this divorcement of the 
laborer from the tools of his handicraft, socialism 
traced most of the ills of modern society; and turned 
from the visionary attempt to establish perfect commu- 
nities and directed its attention to the task of organiz- 
ing labor for the ultimate purpose of overthrowing 
capitalism and gaining control of the means of produc- 
tion and distribution. 

In changing its program from the complete sociali- 
zation of individual activities in the interests of all the 
people to a partial socialization in the interests of one 
class of people, the socialist movement was simply mak- 
ing one of a number of modifications of its fundamental 
principles that it is constantly forced to make when 
it comes in contact with the practical conditions of 
life. Because it realized that it was impracticable, it 

x Ibid. f pp. 139-140. 



96 THE PEOGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

no longer proposed that government should dictate 
to a man the work he should do, the clothes he must 
wear, the place in which he must dine, and the home 
where he must live. And because it realized that it 
was impracticable, it no longer advocated that all in- 
dividuals should be included in the contemplated so- 
cialization. Only the laborers were admitted; capi- 
talists were to be rejected and fought to the bitter end. 

The activities of the socialist movement in this sec- 
ond period were confined, therefore, to labor unions 
and labor organizations. Conventions were held ; news- 
papers were founded ; associations were formed. Many 
of the workers coming from abroad brought with them 
the doctrines of Marx, Engel, and other prominent so- 
cialists in Europe, and a knowledge of the methods 
used by workingmen in foreign countries to win suc- 
cess. 

For some time, however, no effort was made to enter 
politics as a means of accomplishing their ends. In 
fact, the congress of the North American Federation, 
one of the most important labor organizations, had de- 
clared emphatically against it. In a resolution adopted 
at one of its sessions, it said, a The North American 
Federation rejects all cooperation and connection with 
the political parties formed by the possessing classes, 
whether they call themselves Eepublicans or Democrats, 
or Independents or Liberals, or Patrons of Industry or 
Patrons of Husbandry (Grangers), or Eeformers, or 
whatever name they may adopt. Consequently no mem- 
ber of the Federation can belong any longer to such a 
party." * 

In spite of this vehement protest, however, many so- 
cialists planned to establish a political party as a means 
of propagating and carrying into effect their reforms. 

1 Hillquit, History of Socialism in the United States, p. 203. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN SOCIALIST PARTY 97 

Brought face to face with the practical problem of 
obtaining certain legislation, socialism found it neces- 
sary to compromise and yield again. It organized 
much as other parties organized, held political con- 
ventions, adopted platforms, appealed to all classes of 
voters, and even went so far as to mention immediate 
needs, such as the initiative, referendum, and recall. 

The first important political party organized to sup- 
port socialism was the Socialist Labor party, which was 
established in 1874. This party increased in strength 
for a time and then, because its leaders insisted upon 
a too strict adherence to socialistic principles, disin- 
tegrated. Some of the factions united to form the So- 
cialist party, which is the political representative of 
socialism to-day. 

Where the Socialist party has won elections, as in 
Milwaukee and Schenectady, it has given further evi- 
dence of the impossibility of living up to its tenets in 
the face of practical problems. While it is of course 
true that little can be done by a Socialist mayor in a 
single city when the state and national officials belong 
to hostile parties, it is equally true that a Socialist ad- 
ministration dare not use the little power which it has 
to put its reforms into effect. Responsibility brings 
sanity and judgment and the principles of an ideal 
system become greatly modified when put to the prac- 
tical test. 

The evolution of socialism, therefore, through these 
three stages, the community stage, the labor stage, and 
the political stage, has been in the direction of more 
individualism and less socialization. The evolution in 
the other parties has gone so far in the opposite direc- 
tion, from individualism toward socialization, that the 
most extreme of these parties, the Progressive, is not 
very different from the Socialist party in many of its 



98 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

beliefs. Radical Progressives and conservative Social- 
ists, therefore, could almost meet on common ground. 
As time goes on these parties will undoubtedly grow 
even closer together. Everything points to a continu- 
ation of the tendency of the Socialist party to modify 
its demands and make them more practical as it comes 
more and more within reach of a victory in a national 
or state election. Socalism triumphant at the present 
time probably could not be and would not try to be 
much more radical than the majority of progressives 
scattered through the other political parties. 

It is interesting to consider the causes that are re- 
sponsible for the great increase in the Socialist vote 
in the past few years. Undoubtedly, one of the prin- 
cipal causes is the dissatisfaction with the present state 
of affairs. Many of the votes cast in the Socialist col- 
umn are not votes for the Socialist party so much as 
they are votes against the Democratic and Eepublican 
parties. Socialism, because it holds out before men an 
ideal state for the future, thrives on discontent and 
pessimism in the present. 

Another cause of the increase of socialism is the 
increasing need of an extension of governmental func- 
tions. Fifty years ago most men would have sneered 
at the thought of the United States buying and operat- 
ing the railroads of the country. To-day some of the 
ablest men are advocating precisely that thing. Al- 
ready many municipalities own and operate public utili- 
ties and states exercise strict supervision over private 
corporations by means of commissions. The govern- 
ment has supplanted to a considerable degree the ex- 
press companies and plans to go still farther. Every- 
where, in city, state, and nation, there is a growing con- 
fidence in the socialization of certain activities. 

Still another cause for the success of the Socialist 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN SOCIALIST PARTY 99 

party is the change in the character of the party itself. 
The impossibilists who declared undying war against 
the capitalists and would accept nothing short of their 
complete annihilation are rapidly disappearing. By 
a campaign of education, Socialists are convincing many 
people that their party does not stand for violence, in- 
cendiarism, and bloodshed, but for cooperation by all 
the members of society for their own common welfare. 
The leaders of the party are willing to compromise 
when they feel that by doing so they can advance the* 
movement as a whole. The experience of those cities 
that have had Socialist administrations has done much 
to reassure many who feared what the Socialists would 
do if they were elected to office. 

In its relation to the progressive movement at the 
present time, socialism may be said to be the goal 
toward which the movement is tending. It is an ideal 
which the movement hopes some day to see realized. 
But before the measures advocated by the Socialist 
party can operate successfully, it is essential that pre- 
liminary steps be taken to remove corruption and to 
restore the government to the people. Until these things 
are done socialism even in its present modified form 
cannot be permanently successful. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT IX THE PEOHIBITION" 

PAETT 

It is interesting to consider the development of the 
progressive movement in the minor political parties, 
not because of the importance of the parties themselves. 
but because the recognition by them of the underlying 
principles of the movement shows how universal it has 
become in our political life. Even the smallest politi- 
cal party, with seemingly narrow and insignificant ob- 
jects in view, will be found upon analysis to stand for 
the elimination of special influence from government, 
the modification of the structure of government, or a 
greater participation by it in the solution of economic 
and social problems. In some instances, one or more 
of these phases of the progressive movement are openly 
recognized, but are made subordinate to some one re- 
form around which the interests of the party center ; in 
other instances, these minor parties in supporting some 
phase of the progressive movement, call it by some other 
name and thus make obscure the connection of the party 
with the movement as a whole; but in practically all 
cases the differences are differences of expression rather 
than of purpose, and at bottom each of these smaller 
political parties will be found to have much in common 
with its older and more successful rivals. 

One of these minor political parties which has had 

100 



PBOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT IN PROHIBITION PARTY 101 

a close connection with all the phases of the progressive 
movement is the Prohibition party. Organized in 1869, 
holding its first national convention in 1872, partici- 
pating in every presidential and most gubernatorial 
campaigns since it was established, the Prohibition 
party has been an interesting, though not important, 
factor in our political history. In its first campaign it 
polled but 5,608 votes in a total of over six million; 
and, although its membership has constantly increased, 
so far as actual numbers are concerned, and it has on 
several occasions held the balance of the popular votes 
cast for President, its percentage of total votes cast has 
increased but slightly and it has never been a serious 
contender in any national election. The progressive 
movement in the Prohibition party began in a protest 
against the use of government by the liquor interests for 
special purposes. As early as 1862 the Beer Brewers' 
Congress, at its national convention, adopted a resolu- 
tion urging upon the manufacturers and retailers of 
beers and other intoxicating beverages the need of en- 
tering politics in order to protect their interests from 
the attacks of "fanatics" who were trying to suppress 
the liquor traffic. The congress at the same convention 
went even farther and passed a resolution calling upon 
all those interested in the unrestricted sale of liquors 
to refuse to vote for or support any candidate who 
advocated prohibition. 

Up to the time when the brewers and other similar 
bodies had definitely organized for political purposes, 
the fight for prohibition had been waged largely by an 
organization known as the Good Templars, who used 
as their sole weapons education and moral suasion. 
This association, realizing the need of a more effective 
opposition with which to face the organized supporters 
of the liquor traffic, decided to form a political party, 



102 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

the principal purpose of which would be to secure pro- 
hibition by legislation. 1 

In so far as the Prohibition party aimed to prevent 
class government — in this case government by brewers, 
distillers, and saloon-keepers — it occupied common 
ground with the progressive elements in the older par- 
ties when they opposed class government by railroad, 
industrial, and commercial corporations. But, unfor- 
tunately for its development, the Prohibition party did 
not restrict itself to that one object. In fact, it has al- 
ways confused what should have been two totally dis- 
tinct purposes: i. e.. the elimination of special influence 
from government and the prohibition of the manufac- 
ture, sale, and use of intoxicating beverages. There 
are thousands of men who. although they themselves 
use intoxicants, would join a movement to prevent the 
prostitution of government to the ends of liquor dealers. 
And. on the other hand, there are many manufacturers 
and distributors of liquor who. although they might 
believe in abstinence in their own cases, would feel no 
compunction about using government to aid their own 
business. 

If the Prohibition party had conformed more closely 
to the principle of opposing class legislation and re- 
moving the saloon and allied interests from politics in- 
stead of giving the larger portion of its energy to effect 
the complete prohibition of the liquor traffic, its place 
in the progressive movement would have been much 
more important than it is to-day. The evidences of 
the corrupt use of government by brewers, distillers, 
saloon-keepers, and others of the same class are apparent 
on every hand. Prom the great whisky barons who 

1 For an account of the circumstances surrounding the forma- 
tion of the Prohibition party, see Black. One Hundred Years of 
Temperance. 



PBOGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN PROHIBITION PARTY 103 

send their representatives to the halls of Congress down 
to the corner saloon-keeper in any of our cities, liquor 
interests have exercised a most injurious influence on 
our political life. By focusing attention on this one 
feature, by bringing home vividly the saloon as the 
place of snap conventions and the home of ward-heelers, 
by showing up the police as the ally and friend of the 
saloon-keeper in support of brothels and gaming-houses, 
by picturing the demoralizing effect upon city admin- 
istrations of bribe-money offered by saloon-keepers and 
accepted by city officials — the Prohibitionists would have 
had a vitally effective appeal and would have made 
ready converts. Instead, the party has emphasized 
facts which are only too well known and has offered 
a remedy, the efficacy of which is very doubtful. Ta- 
bles are given showing the relative expenditure of the 
United States for meat, iron and steel, sawed wood, 
tobacco, flour, public education, and liquor. Statistics 
are produced showing the number of criminals arrested 
in each of the important cities of the country and the 
percentage who have become criminals through strong 
drink. Whisky, beer, and wines are analyzed and the 
effects of their ingredients upon the body carefully 
pointed out. Misery, poverty, and crime are traced to 
the drink habit. Most of these facts people admit. 
But although they may concede the accuracy of all these 
statistics, they refuse to give their sanction to any at- 
tempt by the government to reform individuals by legis- 
lation. The drink passion, like all other passions, can 
hardly be controlled by statutes and ordinances, fines, 
and penalties ; and it would seem as impossible to abol- 
ish the excesses of drinking by legislation as it would be 
to destroy lust and licentiousness by the same means. 

So far as the drink question is concerned, therefore, 
the Prohibition party has contributed very little to the 



104 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

progressive movement. By its attacks on what has 
long been considered individual liberty, it has alienated 
many who might have been counted upon for support 
had the relation of the drink question to politics been 
approached from a different angle. As it has de- 
veloped, the party has gone farther and farther from 
what should have been its main purpose; i. e., to op- 
pose special influence; and its insistence on the prohi- 
bition of drinking has become more and more marked. 
In the party platform adopted by the national 
convention in 1912, the declaration is made that "the 
alcoholic drink traffic is wrong; is the most serious 
drain on the wealth and resources of the nation ; is detri- 
mental to the general welfare and destructive of the 
inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness. All laws taxing or licensing a traffic which 
produces crime, poverty and political corruption, and 
spreads disease and death, should be repealed. To 
destroy such a traffic there must be elected to power 
a political party which will administer the government 
from the standpoint that the alcoholic drink traffic is a 
crime and not a business, and we pledge that the manu- 
facture, importation, exportation, transportation and 
sale of alcoholic beverages shall be prohibited." * 

So far as issues other than the drink issue are con- 
cerned, the Prohibition party has always been abreast 
or ahead of the progressive movement in the other politi- 
cal parties. In the campaign of 1912 the national plat- 
form contained planks favoring woman suffrage, the 
suppression of traffic in girls, protection of the rights of 
labor, the direct election of United States senators, the 
abolition of child labor, the initiative, referendum, and 
recall, a non-partisan tariff commission, an income tax, 
an inheritance tax, and practically all the other impor- 

1 Pamphlet issued by National Prohibition party. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN PROHIBITION PARTY 105 

tant progressive measures. The progressivism of the 
party, moreover, is as old as the party itself. The first 
national platform, adopted in 1872, advocated woman 
suffrage and the direct election of President and Vice- 
President when the other parties were unwilling to take 
a definite stand on any of these questions. It is inter- 
esting to compare the weak, vacillating statement con- 
cerning woman suffrage in the Republican platform of 
1872 with the clear-cut statement of the Prohibitionists 
in the same year. The Republican platform says : "The 
Republican party is mindful of its obligations to the 
loyal women of America for their noble devotion to the 
cause of freedom. Their admission to wider fields of 
usefulness is viewed with satisfaction; and the honest 
demand of any class of citizens for additional rights 
should be treated with respectful consideration." 1 In 
marked contrast to the "respectful consideration" ac- 
corded by the Republicans, the Prohibition platform 
declares "that suffrage should be granted to all per- 
sons, without regard to sex." 2 Similarly, as the pro- 
gressive movement has developed and new measures 
have been involved, such as the direct election of United 
States senators, the initiative, the referendum, and the 
recall, regulation of railroad rates, control of monopo- 
lies, the Prohibition party has been among the first to 
advocate them openly and unequivocally. 

This very willingness of the Prohibition party to ac- 
cept and support a number of fundamental debatable 
reforms has been one of the chief causes of its lack 
of success. In the first place, few persons are willing 
to accept the platform as a whole. The stand which 
the party takes on the drink question is, of course, 
the thing that principally frightens away prospective 

1 McKee, National Conventions and Platforms, p. 152. 
'Ibid., p. 158. 



106 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

converts; but, on the other hand, many conservative 
men who approve of prohibition are unwilling to advo- 
cate woman suffrage, the initiative, the referendum, the 
recall, and all the other disputed measures. In the 
second place, even among the few who do enroll under 
the Prohibition standard, homogeneity is almost impos- 
sible. They disagree as to the best method of handling 
the issue of prohibition and as to the relative importance 
of that and other issues in the party platform. This 
disagreement within the party became manifest in 1896, 
when the delegates to the national convention found 
it impossible to agree on the issues which should be 
included in the party platform. The platform finally 
adopted by the Prohibitionists declared that its pur- 
pose was to organize and unite all the friends of prohi- 
bition into one party, and in order to accomplish this 
end they deemed it of right to leave every Prohibition- 
ist the freedom of his convictions upon all other political 
questions, and "trust our representatives to take such 
action upon other political questions as the changes oc- 
casioned by prohibition and the welfare of the whole 
people shall demand." * Two hundred and ninety-nine 
of the delegates, refusing to accept this narrow plat- 
form, withdrew from the convention and organized the 
National party, which adopted a platform that con- 
tained an expression on every important political ques- 
tion of the day. The policy of the deserters has pre- 
vailed and to-day the Prohibition party platform covers 
most of the questions found in the platforms of other 
parties. As a result of this diversity of issues, not 
only is the party small, but it lacks the coherence and 
the solidarity that are necessary to success. While 
the Socialist party, by limiting its demands to a single 
proposition; i.e., that the community should own the 
1 MeKee, National Conventions arid Platforms, p. 319. 



PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN PROHIBITION PARTY 107 

means of production and distribution, has grown with 
amazing rapidity, the Prohibition party, by scattering 
its attack, has had little or no real growth in the forty 
years of its existence. 1 

Strange as it may seem, although the Prohibition 
party as a party has been at a standstill since it was 
established, the thing for which it chiefly stands ; i. e., 
the prohibition of the sale of intoxicating beverages, 
has been gaining ground. A great wave of prohibition 
has swept over the country, especially in the middle 
West and South, resulting in state-wide prohibition in 
many instances and in local option in others. In every 
state where political action has been taken, it has been 
taken not by the Prohibition party but by the Demo- 
cratic and the Republican parties. One reason why 
voters when they decide in favor of prohibition go to 
the Democratic and Republican parties to put it into 
effect is because they have an innate distrust of a party 
that makes political capital out of a moral issue, espe- 
cially when that issue involves personal liberty. A sec- 
ond reason closely connected with the first is the unwill- 
ingness of voters to support so-called "Sunday-school 
politics." Because prohibition is so largely a moral and 
religious issue, many ministers have been prominent in 
the councils of the party ; and these ministers, through 
lack of familiarity with political methods and an in- 
evitable tendency toward narrow-mindedness, have 
alienated rather than attracted supporters. In the 
third place, many have believed that the sole issue for 
which the Prohibition party stands is the abolition of 
the liquor traffic and that the party has no policy with 
regard to the other problems of the day. The conclusion 

1 In 1872 the Prohibition party polled 5,608 votes of more than 
6,000,000— less than 0.1 per cent. In 1912 it polled 207,965, of 
about 15,000,000— about 1.3 per cent. 



108 THE PBOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

which they draw from this supposition is that once 
elected, the only logical thing for the Prohibition party 
to do would be to legislate itself out of existence by 
passing a law prohibiting traffic in liquors and thus 
doing away with the chief reason for the party. A 
final reason for the failure of the Prohibition party 
to play as prominent a part as it should in the spread 
of prohibition, is the seeming needlessness of a party 
organized for that purpose alone. All that is needed 
to obtain prohibition is the passage of a law and its 
enforcement : and for that purpose a Prohibition party 
would seem as needless as a Direct-Primary party, an 
Initiative party, or a Recall party. As an organiza- 
tion existing to educate people concerning the dangers 
of excessive drinking and to influence legislation in 
suppressing it. the Prohibition party is justifiable: as 
a political party organized for independent action and 
having a fundamental policy with regard to government, 
the Prohibition party seems doomed to fail. 

This consideration of the Prohibition party must 
make apparent its close connection with the progressive 
movement. Could it but leave off emphasizing the 
evil of strong drink and concentrate on the special in- 
fluence exercised by those who deal in it : could it then 
but extend its opposition to special influence to include 
that exercised by industrial and commercial corpora- 
tions, railroads, and other agencies; could it but re- 
tain the measures now in its platform for modifying 
governmental machinery and relieving social and eco- 
nomic distress, it would be as fair an exponent as any 
of the other political parties of the basic principles 
for which the progressive movement stands. 

Prom the consideration of the development of the 
progressive movement in the Democratic. Republican, 
Progressive, Socialist, and Prohibition parties, it must 



PEOGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN PROHIBITION PARTY 109 

be clear that present party lines are illogical and anom- 
alous. Each of these parties has in it hundreds of 
members who hold the same beliefs and support the 
same measures and yet they are prevented from taking 
united action because of party lines. What is needed 
and what is slowly but inevitably coming is a realign- 
ment of the supporters of different political parties. 
Such a realignment should place in one of the great 
parties those who believe in government by the few, 
who fear any great addition to the power of the people, 
and who oppose the extension of governmental author- 
ity; and in the other there should be gathered those 
who believe that fundamental readjustments must be 
made, that the many are as competent to run the gov- 
ernment in their own interests as the few are to run it 
for them, that substantial changes should be made in 
the structure of government to give to the people a large 
authority, and that government and not the individual 
must solve modern economic and social problems. 



PART II 

THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN THE 
NATION 



CHAPTER VII 

MEASURES OF CORPORATION CONTROL 

The first of the reforms which the progressive move- 
ment in the nation advocates is the removal from gov- 
ernment of organized influence exercised by a minority 
for special purposes. Because this influence for the 
past quarter of a century has been exercised chiefly 
by corporations of various kinds in their own behalf, 
the practical problem becomes one of putting into effect 
measures that will give to the government adequate 
control over these corporations. The struggle between 
the people and the corporations to decide which should 
control the government and for what purposes, has been 
long and bitter; and the end is scarcely now in sight. 
Beginning with the unprecedented industrial and com- 
mercial expansion that followed the period of recon- 
struction after the Civil War, the great corporations 
recognized the extraordinary opportunities for gain 
that would follow a preemption of government in their 
own interests; and before the majority of the voters 
realized the true situation or could devise means to pre- 
vent it, these interests had organized their parties and 
their lobbies and were in almost complete control. 

It was only with the beginning of Roosevelt's admin- 
istration that effective steps were taken to break the 
domination of the corporations and bring them under 
real subjection to the people and the national govern- 
ment. And then because the hold upon government 

113 



114 THE PEOGBESSIVE MOVEMENT 

had been established so long and because gigantic trusts 
and monopolies were so much a part of the warp and 
woof of the nation's industrial, commercial, and politi- 
cal life, ruthless measures were impossible and the ut- 
most caution had to be observed. Roosevelt, by his 
repeated attacks and forceful appeals to public opinion, 
brought the issue home to the masses of the people; 
and, although it was impossible for him to claim any 
more than a drawn battle with the corporations at the 
end of his seven years in office so far as the passage 
of constructive measures is concerned, he aroused the 
public opinion that was later to demand and obtain the 
legislation necessary to give the government the upper 
hand. 

The government seems now to have won the victory f« 
"at last the masters of business on the great scale have - 
begun to yield their preference and their purpose, and 
perhaps their judgment also, in honorable surrender." * 
After an era of corporation supremacy, followed by an 
era of sharp contest between people and corporations, 
the country appears to have entered upon an era of 
constructive legislation to secure to itself the fruits 
of the ' 'honorable surrender'' to which President Wil- 
son refers. Although the outlook for the future is 
bright, it must not be taken for granted that the cor- 
porations will submit passively to legislation that seri- 
ously affects their own interests. Corporations have 
a habit of bending before the storm of public opinion 
to keep from breaking. Hen have long realized that one 
of the most effective ways to block real reform is to 
support mock reform and that "honorable surrender" 
often offers an excellent opportunity to enter and study 
the defenses of the enemy. 

It will aid perhaps in a discussion of the relation 
1 Message of President Wilson to Congress, January, 1914. 



MEASURES OF CORPORATION CONTROL H5 

of government to business and in considering the meas- 
ures that will be necessary in the immediate future, if 
the three great classes of corporations with which the 
national government is chiefly concerned are taken up 
in turn. 

The first of these three classes of corporations which 
the people have been struggling to remove from poli- 
tics and to subject to effective governmental super- 
vision are the railroads. The fundamental policy of the 
federal government with respect to the railroads has 
been to regulate rather than to destroy; common pru- 
dence, if nothing else, convinced the members of Con- 
gress during the period when people were clamoring 
for a cessation of railroad abuses that whatever hap- 
pened, the railroads must be conserved and developed. 
The national government, moreover, was aided in set- 
tling upon this policy by the practice prevalent during 
the late seventies and eighties in many of the states. 
These states, to cure the ills arising from railroad 
abuses, had established commissions with power to in- 
vestigate and report the affairs of railroads and to 
make recommendations for legislation. Following the 
general plan of these state commissions, Congress in 
1887 established the Interstate Commerce Commission, 
giving to it general jurisdiction over railroads engaged 
in interstate commerce. 

Although the Interstate Commerce Commission 
marked a great step in advance in the direction of gov- 
ernmental regulation of corporations, its powers were 
at first somewhat seriously limited. In the first place, 
the act applied only "to any common carrier engaged 
in the transportation of passengers or property whether 
by railroad or partly by railroad and partly by water, 
when both are used." 1 Express companies, sleeping-car 

x 24 United States Statutes at Large, p. 379. 



HQ THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

companies, pipe lines, telephone, telegraph, and cable 
companies, warehouses, refrigerating plants, and other 
similar instrumentalities and facilities of commerce 
were not included. The result was that railroads, while 
unable to offer rebates to shippers directly without vio- 
lating the law, by an agreement with express companies, 
or by unfair discrimination in connection with the nec- 
essary adjuncts of commerce, such as warehouses and 
terminal facilities, could secure special privileges for 
their customers and thus carry on what was essentially 
the same as the former rebating. There was too, in the 
original act, a defect as to jurisdiction in that no pro- 
vision was made for railroads operating entirely within 
a territory. All such railroads, because of this omis- 
sion, were beyond the commission's control. 

In the second place, the act, although it imposed a 
number of duties and liabilities upon railroads with 
respect to reasonableness of rates, discrimination in 
favor of persons or places, long and short haul charges, 
pooling agreements, publicity of rates, and due notice 
to the public of advances thereof, did not touch the 
kernel of the whole rate-making problem. Xot only did 
it fail to give to the commission the power to establish 
a scientific basis of rate-making by ascertaining the 
physical valuation of the railroads, but it did not even 
give the commission the right to fix rates at all. The 
statute provided merely that rates should be just and 
reasonable, leaving to the commission the impossible 
task of defining and applying those terms. As to what 
rates were reasonable or unreasonable, the railroad's 
Avord was as good as the commission's and it could be 
varied to suit different occasions. How difficult it was 
for the commission to control rates with the meager 
power given to it by the act and how urgent was the 
need of physical valuation of the roads are indicated in 



MEASURES OF CORPORATION CONTROL H7 

the following extract from the report of the commis- 
sion for 1909 : — "There is, in our opinion, urgent need 
of a physical valuation of the interstate railways of 
this country. In the so-called 'Spokane Case/ the 
engineers of the Northern Pacific and Great Northern 
railways estimated the cost of reproducing those prop- 
erties in the spring of 1907. In the trial of pending 
suits brought by the above companies to enjoin certain 
rates upon lumber which the commission had estab- 
lished from the Pacific Coast to eastern destinations, 
these same engineers have again estimated the cost of 
reproduction in 1909. The estimates of the latter year 
exceed the estimates for 1907 by over 25 per cent." * 
From the point of view of controlling rates and rate- 
making, the original act of 1887 was totally inadequate. 

Singularly enough, the statute creating the Inter- 
state Commerce Commission contained no prohibition 
of an abuse of the railroads which more than any other 
single thing, perhaps, fostered their corrupting influ- 
ence in politics. The free hand with which railroads 
had given passes to legislators, governors, and other 
public officials was notorious and had been rigorously 
denounced long before the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission was created. And yet the practice of putting 
under obligation to the railroads those who, through 
their public offices, could obtain favorable legislation, 
was allowed to continue. 

A fourth limitation was the failure to include pro- 
visions that were essential to prevent certain kinds of 
obnoxious discrimination and to secure to all shippers 
equal facilities and accommodation. It had long been 
the practice for railroads to own coal mines and timber 
tracts and to transport over their roads the products 
thereof. It was natural, under such circumstances, that 

1 Report of the 'Interstate Commerce Commission, 1909, p. 6. 



118 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

the railroads should place in the way of competitors 
every obstacle possible, in order to control the market 
themselves. The incentive to refuse cars, sidings, spurs, 
and branches to competitors was extremely strong. 
Consequently there continued even after the passage of 
the act a kind of discrimination which could not be 
abolished until the causes that made it so natural and 
so profitable had been removed. 

Another serious limitation was the absence of pro- 
visions concerning the safety and welfare of employees. 
At the time the act was passed many railroads engaged 
in interstate commerce were using hand-brakes and pin- 
couplers, instead of air-brakes and automatic couplers, 
and in consequence hundreds of lives were needlessly 
sacrificed. The importance of a law requiring standard 
safety devices is seen from the fact that "the number 
of men killed in coupling and uncoupling cars for each 
1,000 employed was 3 in 1893" — the year in which 
the Safety Appliance Law was enacted 1 — "and 1 
in 1908," 2 after it had been in effect fifteen years. 
Although it is doubtless true that other causes operated 
to reduce the number of accidents, the effective ad- 
ministration of the Safety Appliance Act was unques- 
tionably the most important factor. It is noteworthy in 
passing that this act which accomplished sc much in 
preventing disability and death was sharply contested 
wherever possible by the railroad corporations. 3 

A final limitation of the act of 1887 was its failure 
to give to the commission any power to control the 
financial operations of the railroads. To protect 
prospective investors from worthless stocks, to prevent 

1 Fifty-second Congress, Second Sess., Chap. 196. 

2 Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission, 1909, p. 40. 

3 Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission, 1908, pp. 38- 
39. 



MEASURES OF CORPORATION CONTROL 119 

the overspeculation that inevitably leads to panic, to 
find a true basis on which to make rates, this power 
was indispensable. 

The limitations which have been thus briefly dis- 
cussed have all been removed by amendments to the 
original act. In 1893 the act requiring safety appli- 
ances was passed and was later strengthened by sev- 
eral amendments. In 1906, 1 the Hepburn Act was 
passed, extending the jurisdiction of the commission 
over railroads operating wholly within a territory and 
including under its provisions express companies, pipe 
lines, sleeping-car companies, warehouses, refrigerat- 
ing plants, and other facilities of commerce. The same 
act gave the commission power to fix maximum rates, 
prohibited passes, diminished discrimination by for- 
bidding railroads to carry their own products (except 
timber) and authorized the commission to compel rail- 
roads to build spurs, switches, sidings, and branches 
wherever they seemed reasonably necessary. Tele- 
phone, telegraph — including wireless — and cable com- 
panies were brought within the act in 19 10, 2 and in 
1913 3 the power to fix the physical valuation and to 
investigate the financial operations of the roads was 
given. As a result of these amendments, the Inter- 
state Commerce Commission now exercises effective 
control over practically all public utility corporations 
engaged in interstate commerce. 

In calling attention to the limitations of the act of 
1887 and in pointing out the great difficulty which the 
commission experienced in removing them, the impor- 
tant advantages that have flowed from this gradual evo- 
lution of the commission's authority should not be 

*34 United States Statutes, pt. 1, p. 584. 
2 36 United States Statutes, pt. 1, p. 539. 
8 37 United States Statutes, pt. 1, p. 701. 



120 THE FEOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

overlooked. In the beginning, instead of having a 
number of duties and responsibilities which, because of 
lack of experience and proper administrative organiza- 
tion, it could not adequately discharge, the commission- 
ers had a chance to assimilate the few powers they did 
have and thoroughly to master their work. As a result, 
the commission has grown with its powers and has al- 
ways been in advance of its opportunities. It has 
therefore won a degree of public confidence which many 
of the state commissions, especially the late ones, which 
have been created rather than developed, have been 
unable to inspire. Moreover, because every increase in 
power asked for by the commission has been bitterly 
contested by the railways, the commissioners have been 
obliged constantly to depend upon public opinion to 
induce Congress to take action. Besides adding to the 
confidence always inspired by close contact with pub- 
lic opinion against special interests, this long, slow 
process of amending the act has seiwed to test every ad- 
ditional grant of power that has been made. The 
commissioners have been forced to show clearly and 
convincingly why requested powers were needed and 
precisely what evils they were designed to remove. 
This has had two most happy results. In the first 
place, the commission has been slow to ask for powers 
which it has not needed; and, in the second place, the 
public has been slow to disapprove requests when 
made. All in all, the commission has developed solidly 
and firmly and is now a vital part of the railroad sys- 
tem of the country. 

As the gradual increase in the authority of the In- 
terstate Commerce Commission is considered, the ques- 
tion naturally arises, To what extent will the com- 
mission's powers be carried ? The answer to this ques- 
tion which many of the advocates of the progressive 



MEASURES OF CORPORATION CONTROL 121 

movement make is, government ownership. Already 
the government has carried its control over railroad 
activities to such an extent that it has almost as much 
to do with their operation as the owners of the roads 
themselves. It prescribes changes in rates, it orders 
the latest safety appliances to be installed, it directs 
a greater number of cars to be run, it compels roads to 
build extensions, and may investigate the issue of stocks 
and bonds. To have two bodies exercising concurrent 
jurisdiction would seem in this case to be an economic 
waste. If the government, through its commission, can 
control most of the activities of the railroads, why not 
extend its authority still farther and have the govern- 
ment own them? 

I The movement toward government ownership of rail- 
roads, telephone, and telegraph lines and other quasi- 
public corporations is accelerated by the increasing 
willingness or perhaps a diminishing unwillingness on 
the part of railroad financiers to withdraw. Railroad 
investments are no longer as profitable as they were in 
the days when land grants were liberal, rates high, 
capitalization copiously watered, and operations uncon- 
trolled. Railroad earnings are carefully analyzed to- 
day. Property is scientifically valued and profits are 
reduced to a minimum. There is spreading a new the- 
ory with respect to railroads and similar corporations ; 
i. e., that they are not to be run for profit, but for 
service. The consequence of all this is that railroads 
complain that additional capital is hard to obtain and 
that what is now invested will gradually be withdrawn. 
With the government becoming constantly better 
equipped to assume complete ownership of the rail- 
roads and with the railroads themselves becoming in- 
creasingly willing that such a step should be taken, 
the other difficulties that are commonly raised 



122 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

against government ownership should not be allowed 
to stand in the way. The original cost, as is so 
often urged, would be great, even if a fair physi- 
cal valuation of railroads were made and all wa- 
tered stock and inflated capitalization removed. But 
it would be by no means impossible for the gov- 
ernment to raise the money; and once convinced of 
the need of taking over the railroads, there would be lit- 
tle reason for not doing it. It would doubtless be 
inadvisable to attempt to buy up all the lines at once; 
but by a careful distribution of the process over a 
period of thirty, forty, or even fifty years, the change 
could be made without imposing any undue burdens. 
There would be this added advantage in such a plan 
that the profits of roads already acquired could be 
used to amortize the debt contracted and thus make 
easier the acquisition of additional lines. 

A second objection sometimes raised against gov- 
ernment ownership; i. e., that competent officials and 
employees could not be obtained because of the tendency 
to prostitute the entire undertaking to the spoils sys- 
tem and political preference, is more imaginary than 
real. There has never been any suspicion cast upon the 
motives or conduct of the members of the Interstate 
Commerce Commission and there is no reason why 
government ownership should work any change. The 
example of the post office and parcel post system is 
a constant refutation of the proposition that the gov- 
ernment cannot run any enterprise with efficiency and 
economy. The character of the work of a governmental 
agency is determined almost entirely by the standards 
already set up and the demands of the public ; and with 
the precedents already established in railroads and the 
exacting demands for good service that are made, there 
is little ground for the belief that there would be any 



MEASURES OF CORPORATION CONTROL 123 

substantial deterioration in service under governmental 
control. As to the injurious effects of the railroads 
upon politics, they could scarcely be worse under public 
ownership than they have been and, in a measure, still 
are. It is no exaggeration to say that, for many years, 
large railroad systems dominated the politics of indi- 
vidual states and even whole sections of the country. 
The Southern Pacific in California, the New Haven in 
New England, the New York Central in New York, 
the Pennsylvania in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, are 
conspicuous examples of the extent to which railroads 
have carried their powers. Far from being worse, 
under public ownership, there are many reasons — as, 
for example, the absence of incentive to make profits, 
the removal of competition and of speculation — why 
the corrupting influence of railroads in politics should 
be considerably diminished. Certainly many of its 
immediate causes, such as the desire to prevent legis- 
lation of a damaging kind, and the attempt to pass laws 
granting special privileges, would no longer exist. 

So far as the relation of the national government 
to railroads and other quasi-public corporations en- 
gaged in interstate commerce is concerned, therefore, 
the progressive movement recognizes the tendency since 
the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission 
in 1887 toward greater governmental control. Although 
the movement does not urge immediate government 
ownership, it believes that everything is pointing in that 
direction. If the powers of the present Interstate Com- 
merce Commission are increased in the future as stead- 
ily and as wisely as they have been in the past, there 
is no reason why a gradual transition from private to 
public ownership should not be made. The course to 
pursue is not to denounce government ownership as 
an unmitigated evil and an impossible chimera nor to 



124 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

accept it as an unalloyed good and to insist on its imme- 
diate adoption; but rather to treat it as a definite goal 
and "to make haste slowly" in attaining it. 

The national government, in dealing with the second 
great class of corporations, i. e., the industrial corpora- 
tions, has followed a policy directly at variance with 
that which it has pursued in connection with the rail- 
roads. Instead of proceeding upon the assumption that 
there are advantages as well as disadvantages in large- 
scale production and that a definite analysis should be 
made with a view to determining how to eliminate the 
evil and conserve the good, the government has pro- 
ceeded on the theory that all trusts and monopolies are 
harmful and ought to be destroyed. In adopting this 
policy, the federal government, as in the case of the 
railroads, found a precedent in many of the states. 
Just as the national government was influenced by the 
conclusions reached by several of the states that the 
most effective way to deal with the railroads was 
through commissions, so it was influenced by the con- 
clusion of many of the states that the most effective way 
to deal with trusts and monopolies was to destroy them. 

The inverse analogy between the attitude of govern- 
ment toward public utility corporations and its attitude 
toward industrial corporations extends not only to the 
purposes which the government had in view in both 
cases but also to the methods used to accomplish those 
purposes. In the case of the railroads, the government, 
starting with the proposition that the railroads must 
be developed for the public good rather than destroyed, 
established a commission with limited powers to ac- 
complish that end. This commission, beginning with 
limited authority, has by degrees developed into an 
unusually effective instrument of control. In the case 
of the industrial corporations, the government, start- 



MEASURES OF CORPORATION CONTROL 125 

ing with the proposition that industrial corporations, 
so far as they were monopolies and tended to restrain 
trade, should be destroyed rather than developed for 
the common good, passed a law making all combinations 
and monopolies in restraint of trade illegal and authoriz- 
ing their dissolution. This law, seemingly a most 
formidable weapon with which to attack trusts and 
monopolies, has undergone an evolution that has made 
of it an uncertain, weak and, in some respects, useless 
statute. 

The act passed by Congress in 1890 for the pur- 
pose of destroying combinations and monopolies and 
known popularly as the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, con- 
tained eight sections. Section 1 declared "every con- 
tract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or 
conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce ... il- 
legal" ; and provided that "every person who shall make 
any such contract or engage in any such combination 
or conspiracy, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not 
exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment 
not exceeding one year or by both said punishments, 
in the discretion of the courts." * Section 2 applied 
the same prohibition and the same penalty to monopo- 
lies. Section 3 extended the application of the act to 
territories and the District of Columbia. Sections 4 
and 5 described the procedure to be followed in en- 
forcing the act. Section 6 authorized the confiscation 
of any property "owned under any contract or by 
any combination, or pursuant to any conspiracy. . . ." 
Section 7 gave to the person injured the right to re- 
cover "threefold the damages by him sustained, and the 
costs of suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee." 
The last section, Section 8, defined the word "person" 
1 26 United States Stat., C. 647. 



126 THE PKOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

or "persons" whenever used in the act to include cor- 
porations. Surely here was a broad, far-reaching, and 
comprehensive statute with which to control all indus- 
trial corporations that restrained trade. 

It might be supposed that, after Congress had placed 
such a drastic law on the statute books, trusts, monopo- 
lies and other combinations in restraint of trade would 
quickly disappear. Such, however, was far from the 
case. In the first place, the Attorneys-General, who 
were authorized to commence suits under the act, 
seemed singularly indisposed to do so. During the 
period from the passage of the act in 1890 to the be- 
ginning of Roosevelt's administration in 1901, only 
eighteen suits were brought 2 and although the number 
greatly increased from 1901 on, during the seven and a 
half years of Roosevelt's administration the total was 
only forty-four. Then, too, the law was not as effec- 
tive as it promised to be because of the combinations 
against which the Attorneys-General decided to pro- 
ceed. Although the act was freely invoked to suppress 
labor associations, against which there is some ground 
for believing it was never intended to be used, the 
large and particularly obnoxious corporations were al- 
lowed to continue and hundreds of new industrial 
combinations were formed. Then, too, the full force 
of the act was practically never used. For although 
provision was made for fine and imprisonment and the 
forfeiture of goods that were being transported in vio- 
lation of the act, these penalties were seldom applied. 
And, finally, in certain cases, notably in the Knight 
case and the Greenhut case, the government failed be- 
cause of technical mistakes in the indictment which a 

1 This does not include private suits brought under the Sher- 
man Act. 



MEASUEES OF CORPORATION CONTROL 127 

more conscientious preparation and prosecution by the 
Attorney-General might have avoided. 

The federal courts have, on the whole, given a liberal 
interpretation of the act. It is true that in some of 
the earlier cases in the Circuit Court a very narrow 
construction was placed upon the statute, robbing it of 
most of its force ; but the decisions in those early cases 
when they reached the Supreme Court were, in most 
instances, overruled. While the lower court, therefore, 
held that "commerce" under the act meant the inter- 
change of commodities and not transportation, the Su- 
preme Court held that both were included; and while 
the lower court held that a restraint, to constitute a 
violation of the act, must be extraneous and unreason- 
able, the Supreme Court held that it need be only 
mutual and reasonable to come within the meaning 
of the statute. 

Although the decisions of the Supreme Court have 
on the whole been liberal, three decisions particularly 
have come in for a good deal of criticism. In the 
case of the United States vs. the E. C. Knight Com- 
pany, 1 it was charged by the government that the 
American Sugar Refining Company, a New Jersey cor- 
poration that controlled a large portion of the output 
of sugar in the United States, had combined with the 
E. C. Knight Company of Philadelphia, who were 
also large producers of sugar. The lower court had 
refused to sustain the indictment and the Supreme 
Court affirmed the lower court's decision, making a 
distinction between a monopoly of manufacture, which 
resulted in this case, and a monopoly in restraint of 
commerce or trade, against which the Sherman Act 
was aimed. In this case, although the facts showed 
that the two corporations as a result of the combina- 

1 156 U. S. 1. 



128 THE PKOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

tion controlled over ninety per cent of the output of 
sugar, they did not show that any restraint of inter- 
state commerce was caused thereby and, for that rea- 
son, the bill brought by the government was dismissed. 

The two other decisions of the Supreme Court that 
have been severely attacked were handed down in the 
Standard Oil Company 1 and American Tobacco Com- 
pany 2 cases. In those cases, although the court held 
that the two corporations had violated the provisions 
of the act and must be dissolved, it added what 
amounted to dicta to the effect that it is only "un- 
reasonable" restraint of trade that the Sherman Act 
enjoins. These remarks were unnecessary to the de- 
cision, but they seemed to indicate a change of front 
on the part of the court, which, in the Trans-Missouri 
case, had distinctly stated that the unreasonableness 
of the restraint was immaterial and also to forecast 
an interpretation by the court that would greatly weaken 
the law. 

There can be little question that the policy of the 
national government toward combinations, trusts, and 
monopolies, as that policy is revealed in the Sherman 
Act, has very largely failed. The failure to give the 
law its full effect by visiting upon offenders the penal- 
ties contained in it, the uncertainty of the courts as 
to its interpretation, the impossibility of stretching 
its meaning to cover all the devices that are used to 
evade it, the prevalence, in an aggravated form, of 
many of the abuses it was intended to remove, all show 
that after twenty-four years of experiment, the national 
government has found that its attempt to destroy big 
business not only has not destroyed it, but has failed 
to control it as well. 

1 221 U. S. l. 

2 221 U. S. 160. 



MEASURES OF CORPORATION CONTROL 129 

The principal trouble with the attempt of the gov- 
ernment in dealing with industrial corporations has 
been the failure to make a proper analysis of the en- 
tire problem. In the first place, Congress failed to do 
what the courts were later forced to do; i. e., dis- 
criminate between reasonable and unreasonable re- 
straint of trade and between cases where the penalty 
could and cases where it could not be strictly applied. 
If the Sherman Act had been construed in all its literal- 
ness, if it had included, as it says, every combination or 
contract in restraint of trade, practically all business 
between states would have had to cease. A contract 
entered into by a man in one state with a factory in 
another under the terms of which he was to receive 
a consignment of goods at the end of a given period, 
would become a restraint of trade to the extent of the 
goods involved. And, on the other hand, if the penalty 
had in all cases been strictly enforced, billions of dol- 
lars' worth of property would have been confiscated and 
hundreds of the country's most prominent men would 
have been thrown into jail. 

In the second place, the government has taken it 
for granted that all monopolies are bad and that monop- 
olies are all bad. It has failed to distinguish between 
a monopoly that is the logical and natural outgrowth 
of modern conditions, as, for example, the telephone 
and telegraph monopoly, and a monopoly fostered by 
artificial means, as, for example, the United States 
Steel Corporation or the Beef Trust. And, failing 
to recognize these artificial causes of monopolies, it 
has been unable to solve the problem because it has 
left out the most important factors. So, too, it has 
failed to consider that even a monopoly made possible 
by unnatural means, may under proper supervision 
have many advantages that may be turned to the com- 



130 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

mon good. Reduced cost of production and of distri- 
bution, greater utilization of by-products, better organi- 
zation, and better service may be taken advantage of 
even though some of the more objectionable features of 
monopolies cannot be tolerated. 

In the third place, the government has overlooked 
the fact that in attempting to destroy all trusts and 
monopolies by legislative fiat, it is flying in the face 
of economic law and evolution. Concentration of capi- 
tal and cooperative production on a large scale are 
just as inevitable to-day in many industries as the 
widening application of electricity in daily life. There 
is, of course, a limit beyond which this concentration 
of capital in large enterprises, because of the intri- 
cate organization needed, may not pay ; and some promi- 
nent business men have expressed the opinion that 
that stage has already been reached. But it is only 
when that stage is reached, it is only when further 
combination ceases to be profitable that men will cease 
to combine. The advantages and disadvantages of 
trusts must be shown by experience; the mania for 
large-scale production, like any other disease, must run 
its course. 

Another fallacy made by the government in accept- 
ing the Sherman Law as the proper remedy for curbing 
the trusts was in believing that a single law was suf- 
ficient to do away with combinations and monopolies. 
What really happened was the substitution of litiga- 
tion for legislation as a means of control. Instead 
of having an administrative body to study the situation, 
determine the proper remedy to apply, and then ask 
Congress for authority to apply it, suits were brought 
sporadically against any corporation that seemed to 
need treatment and could stand it. Great corporations 
were unwilling to dissolve merely because there was 



MEASURES OF CORPORATION CONTROL 131 

a law on the statute books which no one fully under- 
stood and which might never be used against them; 
they preferred to run the risk that the law was a threat 
rather than a weapon and that it would never be ap- 
plied to them. Business, consequently, was conducted 
under a kind of sword of Damocles with now and then 
a snapping of the hair and a descent of the sword on 
some unfortunate corporation that happened to be di- 
rectly underneath. Government and business have, 
therefore, been suspicious of one another because a 
mutual understanding has been impossible. In deal- 
ing with the railroads, the government gave notice and 
then imposed only a comparatively slight penalty for 
disobedience of its orders; in dealing with industrial 
corporations, no notice was given and the penalty for 
failing to anticipate the courts' interpretation of the 
law was to be dissolution and destruction. 

After years of conflict between government and 
business, both have come to the conclusion that the 
best solution of the entire problem lies in a system 
of governmental regulation modeled after that now 
exercised by the Interstate Commerce Commission. 
President Wilson, in his message on corporations, 
urged the establishment of such a commission to 
be known as the Interstate Trade Commission to inter- 
pret and apply the law governing industrial corpora- 
tions and to recommend additional legislation as it is 
needed. This proposition to establish a body to inves- 
tigate and recommend legislation concerning corpora- 
tions is not new. As early as 1903, Koosevelt, recog- 
nizing the inadequacy of the Sherman Law and feel- 
ing the necessity of adopting some measures to control 
industrial corporations, managed to have passed as a 
part of the act creating the Department of Commerce 
and Labor, a Bureau of Corporations. Although it 



132 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

was handicapped by lack of power because public 
opinion was not strong enough at that time to force a 
reactionary Congress to grant it, the bureau did in- 
valuable work in investigating such corporations as the 
Steel Trust, the Standard Oil Company and the Ameri- 
can Tobacco Company. 

With the information already gathered by its pro- 
totype at hand, the proposed Trade Commission should 
undertake as its first problem, the problem that the 
Sherman Law completely overlooked, i. e., the problem 
of analysis. One task of the commission will be to 
define the limits of national action. There are many 
corporation abuses that no national commission can 
remove because Congress itself has not the power to 
delegate for that purpose. [Monopoly of production 
where the production is entirely within one state, over- 
production causing a fall in prices and a laying off of 
labor, the conditions under which men and women work 
— these are some of the things that a commission can- 
not regulate because they do not come under the na- 
tional jurisdiction. 

A second problem in analysis will be to determine 
how many evils are due to monopolies and trusts and 
how many to other causes. Unsound securities, im- 
proper investments, and many other evils usually 
ascribed to combination of capital will be found to 
be due to the lax incorporation laws of many of 
the states. These evils can best be removed by passing 
legislation compelling all corporations engaged in in- 
terstate commerce to incorporate under the national 
government. This proposal has already been made a 
number of times and now would seem to be an excel- 
lent time to put it into effect. 

In the third place, the commission will have to 
distinguish natural from artificial monopolies and 



MEASURES OF CORPORATION CONTROL 133 

trusts, discover the props that support the latter, and 
remove them. Three of these props long in evidence 
and recognizable at the present time are the tariff, 
the railroads, and patents. By taking refuge behind 
the wall of protection raised by a high tariff, or by 
obtaining rebates and other favors from railroads that 
its less fortunate rivals cannot obtain, or by the pro- 
tection of a patent law giving it the exclusive right 
of production over a period of years, a corporation 
that could not otherwise become a monopoly may choke 
off competition and gain control of an industry. 

The result of a proper analysis by a Trade Com- 
mission should be to show the national government 
the industries over which it should exercise control, as 
well as the extent to which and the methods by which 
such control should be exercised. To a certain extent 
the Interstate Trade Commission will begin in 1915 to 
do the work which the Interstate Commerce Commission 
began in 1887. Whether it will go as far in its recom- 
mendations and receive as substantial additions to its 
powers in the coming twenty-seven years as the Inter- 
state Commerce Commission has in the past twenty- 
seven remains to be seen. If the tendency of the new 
commission is in the same general direction as that of 
the old one — and there is no indication that it will not 
be — the ownership by the national government of those 
industries that are national in their scope and character, 
though remote, is by no means impossible. Many of 
the problems with which the government will have to 
deal in regulating the industrial corporations will be 
much more difficult than problems of the same general 
nature in connection with railroads. Fixing the rate 
that is to be charged between two points on a railroad 
is much easier than fixing the price that is to be 
charged for a gallon of oil or a pound of beef; and 



134 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

determining the number of cars to be used on a given 
route is simple compared with fixing the number of 
shoes to be manufactured in a year. And yet complex 
as the problem of close government supervision and 
regulation undoubtedly will be, it must be undertaken 
and undertaken now. There can be no turning back- 
ward. If the end is to be government ownership, well 
and good. If the powers of the government are in- 
creased gradually and carefully, current problems can 
be satisfactorily solved ; and when, if ever, government 
ownership comes, it will come when the nation is ready 
for it and when it will do little harm. 

A third class of corporations over which the progres- 
sive movement advocates a greater measure of govern- 
mental control are the banking corporations. Although 
the coinage of money has always been recognized in 
this country as a function to be exercised by the fed- 
eral government and by it alone, the coinage of credit, 
upon which by far the greater part of the business of 
the country is done, has been left to private individuals. 
And although there has been established a strong cen- 
tral institution, the United States Treasury, with sub- 
treasuries in several important cities through which 
the currency of the country may be distributed, the 
distribution of credit has been allowed to fall into the 
hands of a few to be used by them largely for their 
own purposes. Through the interlocking of directo- 
rates, i. e., the placing of the same men on the board 
of directors in a number of different banks and trust 
companies, it has been possible to concentrate in the 
hands of these men the control of a great part of the 
available credit of the country. To such an extent has 
this been carried that in grave emergencies, as in the 
panic of 1893 and in that of 1907, when the national 
government was helpless to relieve the stringency and 



MEASURES OF CORPORATION CONTROL 135 

restore confidence, a private banking house that con- 
trolled a great portion of the country's credit was 
called in to help; and, what is more significant, did 
help. This concentration of credit which makes pri- 
vate banking houses more powerful than the govern- 
ment itself, has given rise to the use of the expression 
"money trust'' and has evoked from the public a de- 
mand for a change in the national banking system that 
will place credit money as well as other money under 
the government's control. 

The banking system which was in effect prior to the 
passage of the Glass-Owen law in 1913 was defec- 
tive in nearly every essential feature. In the first 
place it was lacking in national leadership. There 
were about twenty thousand national banks scattered 
over the entire country, no one of which was sufficiently 
strong to assume control or direct the others in time 
of panic. In fact, instead of being mutually helpful, 
just as soon as struggle set in, they became keen com- 
petitors for currency to save themselves. Nowhere 
in this country was there a banking institution that oc- 
cupied the position that the Bank of England occupies 
in England, the Bank of Germany in Germany, or the 
Canadian Bank in Canada. In each of those countries 
a panic is practically impossible because the credit of 
the entire country stands ready to back up the central 
bank. If more reserves are needed, the central bank 
supplies them; if there is danger of overspeculation 
or undue withdrawal of gold from the country, the cen- 
tral bank adjusts the rate of discount. And beyond 
all that such banks actually do, they aid enormously 
in times of stress because they inspire the confidence 
for want of which most panics are precipitated. 

A second defect of the old system was the danger- 
ous concentration of reserves in a few large centers. 



136 THE PEOGEESSIYE MOVEMENT 

The cities of the country, for the purpose of classi- 
fying banks, were divided into central reserve cities, 
reserve cities, and country bank towns. The three cen- 
tral reserve cities were Xew York, Chicago, and St. 
Louis ; the reserve cities included the smaller cities, such 
as Kansas City, San Francisco, Cleveland, etc. ; and 
the rest were country bank towns. Xational banks in 
country bank towns were required by the law in opera- 
tion before the Glass-Owen bill was passed, to keep 
fifteen per cent, of their deposits on reserve. Of this 
fifteen per cent, six per cent, had to be kept in their 
own vaults while the other nine per cent, might be 
placed to their credit in national banks in reserve cities. 
Reserve city banks were required to keep twenty-five 
per cent, in reserve, of which twelve and a half per 
cent, might be kept in their own vaults and twelve and 
a half in a national bank in one of the three central re- 
serve cities. Xational banks in central reserve cities 
were required to keep twenty-five per cent, of their de- 
posits in cash in their own vaults. Under this system, 
at a time of the year when currency was needed all 
over the country at the same time, the country banks 
would demand their deposits from their bankers in the 
reserve cities. The reserve city banks, likewise, to meet 
the demands made upon them, would ask for their de- 
posits from the banks in the three central reserve cities. 
The entire stress tended, therefore, to rest upon the 
individual banks in Xew York, Chicago, and St. Louis. 
Not only were the banks in those cities expected to meet 
the demands of the reserve city banks and through them 
of the country banks, but at the slightest indication of 
panic, they were besieged by their own depositors. The 
inevitable result was the collapse of several strong banks 
in central reserve cities and the beginning of a seyere 
panic. 



MEASURES OF CORPORATION CONTROL 137 

Another defect of the system was the inelasticity of 
the currency. In order to increase the currency most 
countries allow recognized banks to issue notes of their 
own under prescribed conditions. If those notes can be 
freely and safely increased when they are needed, as 
in the autumn of the year when crops must be moved, 
and can be easily removed from circulation when they 
are no longer required, the currency is said to be elas- 
tic. Under our former banking system the currency, 
far from being elastic, was quite inelastic. In order 
to issue bank notes up to a certain amount, it was neces- 
sary for a national bank to purchase United States 
bonds up to the same amount and deposit them in the 
United States Treasury as security. The result was 
that in times of stringency, when there was a great de- 
mand for currency, both to pay out to depositors and 
to keep on reserve in vaults, the banks were little in- 
clined to pay it out for United States bonds in order to 
issue bank notes. On the other hand, when currency 
was plentiful and banks had a fair supply of cash in 
their vaults, there was strong inducement to invest some 
of the cash in bonds and issue bank notes against them. 

The Glass-Owen bill, passed in December, 1913, aims 
to correct these three fundamental defects in the old 
banking system. Instead of a system with twenty thou- 
sand banks, no one of which is in control, the new law 
provides for a Federal Keserve Board at Washington 
to consist of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Comp- 
troller of the Currency and five other members ap- 
pointed by the President, and to exercise final control 
over the entire system. In time of stress, this Fed- 
eral Reserve Board can compel one regional bank to 
loan to another; can remove or alter the restrictions 
placed upon the banks with regard to reserves; and 
can even remove directors of the regional banks. This 



138 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

Federal Eeserve Board will be aided in its work by 
an Advisory Council composed of one representative 
from each reserve district. The Advisory Council will 
meet in "Washington, confer with the members of the 
Federal Eeserve Board and make specific recommenda- 
tions. Such a system gives vastly more leadership than 
the present plan. 

Another great improvement made by the Glass-Owen 
bill is with regard to the concentration of reserves. 
Under the old system, as was pointed out, the entire 
strain tended to fall on three cities and there was no 
source to which those cities could turn for relief. The 
Glass-Owen law provides for the establishment by the 
Federal Eeserve Board of twelve regional banks dis- 
tributed throughout the country. National banks are 
required to take stock in the regional banks and, under 
certain conditions, state banks and even the public may 
do so. These regional banks will do business, with 
one or two exceptions, wholly with the so-called mem- 
bers, i. e., the individual banks within the district 
covered by a regional bank that have subscribed to the 
stock of the regional bank. These member banks are 
required to place a certain per cent, of their deposits 
on reserve in the regional banks. Country banks 
must keep on reserve twelve per cent, of demand de- 
posits and five per cent, of time deposits. Ultimately 1 
five-twelfths of the total reserve will be kept in these 
regional banks. Eeserve city banks are required to 
keep fifteen per cent, of demand deposits and five per 
cent, of time deposits. Of this total reserve, ultimately 
two-fifths will be kept on deposit in the regional banks. 
Central reserve banks must keep on deposit eighteen 
per cent, of demand deposits and ^.ye per cent, of time 

1 Provision is made for a gradual transfer of reserves to avoid 
unsettling business too much. 



MEASURES OF CORPORATION CONTROL 139 

deposits. Seven-eighteenths of the total must be placed 
in regional banks. These regional banks will then act 
as reservoirs and in time of stringency will aid their 
member banks. They will, under certain conditions, 
rediscount the commercial paper of member banks and 
thus enable them to obtain the necessary currency to 
meet the demands made upon them. 

The Glass-Owen law meets the third defect — inelas- 
ticity of currency — of the system which it supplants by 
providing for a new kind of currency called treasury 
notes. When there is need of increasing the cur- 
rency, regional banks, by depositing with one of their 
directors, known as the federal reserve agent, com- 
mercial paper which it has discounted plus forty per 
cent, in gold, may issue treasury notes to the face value 
of the paper. When the currency is no longer needed, 
it is expected that the notes will be withdrawn by the 
regional banks as quickly as possible so as to release the 
forty per cent, gold reserve which it must set aside. In 
any case, these treasury notes become the obligation 
of the government and are payable at the United States 
Treasury. In extreme emergencies, provision may be 
made for a suspension of the restrictions surrounding 
the issue by the regional banks of these treasury notes 
until the crisis has passed. 

There can be no question that the national govern- 
ment in enacting the Glass-Owen bill, by eliminating 
the three grave defects in our former banking system. 
has taken a long step in the direction of better govern- 
mental control of banking corporations and the release 
of credit from the control of a few. While it is doubt- 
less true that the law is the best one that could be 
enacted at the time, opinion is somewhat divided as to 
whether it is the best bill that can be adopted in this 
country. Just as in the case of the railroad and indus- 



140 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

trial corporations, so in the case of banking corporations, 
the tendency is toward a large increase in governmental 
control. And, as in the case of the railroads and indus- 
trial corporations, the goal toward which things are 
tending seems to be government ownership or some- 
thing closely approaching it, so in the case of the 
banks, the goal seems to be a central bank modeled 
after those of Germany, France, England, Japan, Can- 
ada, and other countries. Such a bank would do much 
more to inspire confidence than twelve regional banks 
with the Federal Keserve Board and the Advisory 
Council of the present plan and could better guard 
against the inflation and over-expansion of which many 
have expressed fears under the present system. There 
would seem to be little excuse for agitating the ques- 
tion of a central bank at the present time and almost 
as little for passing adverse criticisms upon the present 
law. Its weaknesses will unfailingly develop as it is 
subject to practical tests and it can then be amended. 
But in amending and improving upon it, Congress 
should go forward and not backward ; and forward will 
be in the direction of a strong government central 
bank rather than away from it. 

The conclusion which one must inevitably draw from 
this discussion of the present status of railroad, in- 
dustrial, and banking corporations in their relation to 
government is that the day of destructive criticism 
and attack has passed and that the country is entering 
upon a period of constructive suggestion and readjust- 
ment. The progressive movement emphasizes the need 
of extending governmental control as rapidly as cir- 
cumstances will permit, to the end that corporations 
may occupy a subordinate rather than a dominant po- 
sition in our national political life. This first prob- 
lem, in a sense a negative one, the problem of remov- 



MEASURES OF CORPORATION CONTROL 141 

ing special influence so far as it is exercised by 
corporations upon political life, is the one that it is 
most important to solve at the present time. When 
that is done, when the nation has caught its breath 
after the really severe struggle it has made to conquer, 
it will be time to take up the larger and more positive 
problem of finding new ways of using corporations for 
the general good. 



CHAPTEE VIII 

MEASUEES OF GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL 

The second thing which the progressive movement 
in the nation aims to do is to modify the structure 
of the federal government so as to make it more directly 
responsive to the will of the majority. The experience 
of over a century and a quarter of national life has 
shown very clearly that because of certain features of 
its structure, the federal government is peculiarly sus- 
ceptible to control by special interests. It is evident, 
moreover, from the exhaustive studies that have been 
made that the most important obstacles to majority rule 
in the nation were put into the federal constitution 
by its framers for that purpose. The selection of the 
President by means of an electoral college, the election 
of senators by the legislatures of the states, the appoint- 
ment of Supreme Court judges for life with power to 
declare laws unconstitutional, the difficult methods 
prescribed for amending the constitution, all these pro- 
visions were inserted in the constitution in the begin- 
ning to curb the power of the people. Other checks 
have developed along with the constitution, such as the 
elaborate rules in Congress which make it possible 
for small committees to control all important legislation, 
the assumption by the Supreme Court of the power to 
modify statutes and to amend the constitution by ju- 
dicial interpretation and the rise of political machines 

142 



MEASURES OF GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL 143 

that control the nomination of President and Vice-Presi- 
dent in comparatively small conventions. These ob- 
stacles in the way of government by the majority — 
both those that were purposely put into the constitution 
and those that have grown up with it — the progressive 
movement proposes to remove. 

In advocating the removal of these checks and a larger 
participation in government by the majority of the 
people, the progressive movement does not seek to abol- 
ish representative government and introduce a pure 
democracy in its stead. Such a proposal in a country 
with 100,000,000 inhabitants scattered over an area of 
3,000,000 square miles would be little short of absurd. 
What the progressive movement aims to do is rather to 
restore representative government by correcting the de- 
fects in the national government that enable vested 
interests and a small minority to control. With the 
telephone, the telegraph, the railroad, the newspaper, 
and the magazine, with the spread of education and the 
increase in the intelligence of the average voter, there 
is every reason why the people should exert more and 
more influence on government rather than less and less. 
There is every reason why a majority of the people, 
expressing their opinions in an open, legal way should 
control the acts of presidents, judges, and legislators 
rather than that they should allow corporations and 
banking interests to control them in a secret and illegal 
way. To make the federal government more democratic 
by eliminating the impediments to popular rule is not 
to make it less representative; it is merely to change 
the persons represented. 

One of the provisions of the constitution that makes 
it difficult for the people to make their influence felt is 
the provision concerning the methods of proposing and 
passing amendments. On their face, without any con- 



144 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

sideration of the way they have worked out in prac- 
tice, the methods provided seem to make any amend- 
ment to the constitution except on a minor matter or 
under extraordinary circumstances almost impossible. 
Merely to propose an amendment requires the consent 
of two-thirds of the members of Congress or of two- 
thirds of the state legislatures ; while, to adopt one, the 
consent of three-fourths of the states is necessary. 
The full force of the provision becomes apparent when 
we consider not how large a majority is necessary to 
propose and ratify an amendment, but how small a 
minority may oppose and block one. Seventeen of the 
least populous states, such as ^Nevada, Wyoming, Dela- 
ware, etc., with a total population of about 7,000,000, 
can prevent the other ninety odd millions from propos- 
ing amendments; while thirteen states, with a total 
population of about 4,500,000, can prevent their adop- 
tion. The situation becomes even worse when it is re- 
membered that in most instances the amendments are 
ratified by the state legislatures and not by the people 
and that the majorities in the smaller house of each 
of the thirteen smallest states can prevent the entire 
nation from changing its fundamental law. 

There is nothing new in these objections to the pro- 
visions of the constitution concerning the passage of 
amendments. Practically all of them were raised in 
1789, when the constitution was before the people for 
their approval. But we have, in addition to the theo- 
retical objections that were raised then, practical ex- 
perience to guide us ; and that practical experience only 
confirms the suspicion entertained by many in 1789 
that the provisions for altering the federal constitution 
were designed to hinder rather than to facilitate the 
passage of amendments. An analysis of the seventeen 
amendments already passed shows that because of their 



MEASURES OF GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL 145 

character or the circumstances under which they were 
passed, they do not weaken at all the proposition that 
amendments are almost impossible to obtain; but on 
the contrary confirm it. The first twelve amendments 
were passed before 1805. Of these, the first ten con- 
stituted a kind of Bill of Eights, upon the passing 
of which some of the colonies conditioned the adoption 
by them of the constitution. The eleventh amendment 
came as a result of the case of Chisholm v. the State 
of Georgia and added to the constitution a provision 
which most of the states thought was already there by 
implication; i. e., that a state could not be sued by an 
individual without its own consent. The twelfth amend- 
ment was of minor importance, modifying the method 
of choosing the President and Vice-President. A civil 
war was necessary to add the thirteenth, fourteenth, and 
fifteenth. Of the first fifteen amendments, therefore, 
it is fair to say that not one was passed on an important 
question in time of peace. 1 

The recent passage of the sixteenth 2 and seven- 
teenth 3 amendments, although at first sight it seems to 
impair the argument for an easier method to amend the 
constitution, upon examination rather strengthens it. 
The sixteenth amendment was first introduced in 1896 
just after the Supreme Court declared the income tax 
unconstitutional. 4 Although up to that time practically 
no one had questioned the constitutionality of the tax ; 
although the Supreme Court itself had on several oc- 
casions declared an income tax constitutional ; although 
most people undoubtedly favored the imposition of 
such a tax; it took seventeen years to pass a consti- 

1 Smith, The Spirit of American Government, pp. 40 et seq. 
3 The income tax amendment. 

8 Direct election of United States senators amendment. 
*In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Co., 158 U. S. 601. 



146 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

tutional amendment giving Congress the power to levy 
it. The situation with regard to the seventeenth amend- 
ment was even worse. The resolution to amend the 
constitution so as to provide for the election of United 
States senators hy a direct vote was introduced in Con- 
gress for the first time in 1S93 and was before the 
country constantly until the amendment was ratified in 
1913. Few persons opposed the direct election of sena- 
tors and yet the difficulty of obtaining the consent of 
three-fourths of the states was so great that for two 
decades the will of a majority of the people was 
thwarted. 

The impracticability of the present method is well 
illustrated by the fact that some states found it easier 
to evolve an intricate scheme to elect United States 
senators by a direct vote of the people than to obtain 
the right by constitutional amendment. Instead of 
allowing the state legislators to exercise their own 
choice for United States senators, these states bound 
them to elect the candidates who had received the high- 
est number of votes at the polls. The plan thus worked 
out made the duty of the legislators in selecting a 
United States senator closely analogous to that of the 
members of the electoral college in choosing a President. 
It is quite probable that, if no amendment had been 
passed on the subject, most of the states would ulti- 
mately have provided for the direct election of United 
State senators by this device. As it is, several states, 
by perfecting the scheme and making the preference of 
the people binding upon the legislators and thus insur- 
ing direct election, demonstrated that it was easier to 
make fundamental changes in the structure of govern- 
ment by evading the constitution than by amending it. 

These serious limitations on the power of a majority 
of the people to amend the national constitution, the 



MEASURES OF GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL 147 

progressive movement proposes to remove by substitut- 
ing for the present cumbersome methods a simple one 
that will make amendments more readily obtainable. 

One plan typical of several that have been suggested 
to effect this change was introduced in Congress in 1913 
in the form of a resolution to add Amendment XVIII 
to the constitution. The resolution follows : 

"Amendments to this constitution may be pro- 
posed by the Congress whenever an absolute ma- 
jority of both Houses in the same session of Con- 
gress shall deem it necessary, or by conventions 
to be called as hereinafter set forth, or by not less 
than one-fourth of the states, provided the states 
proposing such amendments contain not less than 
one-fourth of the population of all the states as 
shown by the last preceding decennial enumeration. 
Such proposal by the states may be made either 
by the legislatures thereof, or by the vote of a ma- 
jority of the electors voting thereon in any state 
making provision for the submission of such pro- 
posal to popular vote. Amendments proposed, as 
above provided, shall be submitted at the next en- 
suing election of representatives in each of the 
several states, directly to the electors qualified to 
vote for the election of representatives in accord- 
ance with the regulations of each of the states 
where provision for such vote is made by the state. 
In default of state regulation thereof the vote upon 
proposed constitutional amendments shall be taken 
in such manner as the Congress shall provide. If, 
in the majority of the states, a majority of the 
electors voting thereon approve the proposed 
amendments, and, if the majority of all the elec- 
tors voting thereon shall also approve the proposed 



143 THE PBOGHESSIYE MOVEMENT 

amendments, they shall be valid to all intents and 

purposes as pan of this constitution. 

"The Congress shall by appropriate legislation 

provide for the holding of a convention in the year 

1920, and every 30 years thereafter, for proposing 

amendments to this constitution.'" 2 
That the proposed plan would make the addition of 
amendments much easier than at present is unquestion- 
able. In fact, the objection that is almost certain to be 
raised against it is that it is too easy to be safe. There 
would seem to be little need, however, for apprehension 
on that score. If sufficient time elapses between the pro- 
posal of amendments by the states and the ratification 
at the polls ; if the fullest publicity and opportunity for 
discussion are given; and if a majority of the voters 
scattered over a majority of the states then approve, the 
amendments would seem to be desired by the people as 
a whole. Besides, there is nothing inherently objection- 
able in allowing a constitution to be amended easily. 
In a country where the fundamental law is a written 
constitution, the extent to which the people control is 
determined very largely by the ease or difficulty with 
which they can make changes in that constitution. And, 
on the other hand, if a small minority can block any 
amendments, that minority is almost certain to be dom- 
inated by special interests for their own ends. There 
is an added reason for simplifying the present method 
of amending the constitution in the rapidly changing 
conditions of modern society. In 1S00, fifteen or twenty 
years was not a long time to wait to put a reform into 
effect. To-day, when events move so swiftly, fifteen or 
twenty years are like a generation. If the law pro- 
posed to-day to meet present conditions cannot be passed 

1 Introduced as House Joint Resolution 95, on June 10, 1913, 
in the Sixty-tnird Congress, First Session. 



MEASUBES OF GOVEENMENTAL CONTROL 149 

until fifteen or twenty years hence, when conditions 
will have become different, it will be inadequate and 
in some cases almost useless. Under such a system 
government ceases to be responsive to the people, the 
constitution tends to be broken or evaded, and a revolu- 
tion, peaceful or violent, becomes more than a bare possi- 
bility. 

The proceedings of the Republican National Con- 
vention in 1912 — and to a less extent those of the Demo- 
cratic National Convention of the same year — brought 
home to the people more strikingly than ever before the 
grave dangers that lie in allowing a comparatively few 
irresponsible delegates to nominate candidates for Pres- 
ident and Vice-President. In both conventions, al- 
though it would probably be impossible to prove fraud 
legally, it is quite certain that sharp practices were used 
and that the people were not fairly represented. No 
one seriously contends that the vote of the delegates at 
Chicago reflected the wishes of a majority of the mem- 
bers of the Republican party; while in Baltimore the 
spectacle of a political boss casting New York's ninety 
votes for Clark against the wishes of the Democratic 
voters of that state, and even against the wishes of a 
strong minority of the delegation, was little short of 
disgraceful. 

Delegates to national party conventions at present 
are chosen either by state conventions or by the people 
at primary elections. Of those elected at the primaries 
some are instructed to vote for designated candidates, 
while others receive no instructions at all. Under the 
plan of choosing delegates in state conventions — and the 
majority of delegates are nominated in this way at 
present — the chance that the people will be represented 
is slight. In the first place, the unknown and rather 
weak delegates to these state conventions are easily in- 



150 THE PKOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

chiced to vote for any delegates to the national con- 
vention that the boss or other representative of spe- 
cial interests may dictate. These "hand-picked" dele- 
gates to the national convention are in turn easily 
manipulated and induced to vote for machine men for 
candidates for President and Vice-President. In the 
whole process public opinion is made effective only with 
the greatest difficulty. Delegates to the state and na- 
tional conventions are obscure, and little interest is 
taken in them. It is safe to say that not one voter in 
fifty knows the name of the man who represents him 
in the national convention or could tell for which can- 
didate the delegate voted. And, even if he did know, 
it would do little or no good, for delegates are irresponsi- 
ble, their duties ending with the convention in which 
they sit. 

The progressive movement aims to abolish the na- 
tional party conventions as nominating bodies, leav- 
ing to them only the function of making the party plat- 
forms; and, at the same time, to give to the people 
through a system of primaries the power to nominate 
candidates for President and Vice-President. Under 
the proposed primaries, known as presidential prefer- 
ence primaries, delegates to national conventions would 
be chosen directly by the people and would be pledged 
to vote for designated candidates for President and 
Vice-President. Thus, of ninety delegates from Xew 
York to a national convention, twenty might be in- 
structed to vote for A. twenty for B, and the rest for C. 
To make the possibility of a deadlock as remote as pos- 
sible, not only first but second and third choices may 
be indicated. Thus, if no candidate is chosen after all 
the first choice votes have been cast, the candidate re- 
ceiving the smallest number of first choice votes would 
be eliminated and the second choice of those who voted 



\ 



MEASURES OF GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL 151 

for him for first choice would be distributed among the 
remaining candidates. This process can be continued 
until some candidate receives a majority of the votes. 

Seventeen states 1 have already adopted some form of 
presidential preference primaries; but the system of 
choices cannot be thoroughly worked out unless all 
states choose their delegates under the same plan. Un- 
der the present incomplete plan, the tendency is to bind 
the delegates either too little or too much. The voters 
of a state, for example, may instruct their delegates to 
vote for a particular candidate. If it becomes apparent 
on the first ballot that that candidate cannot win, the 
delegates may continue to throw their votes away in a 
hopeless cause or cast their instructions to the winds 
and vote for whom they choose. In either case the real 
intent of the primaries is defeated. Under a well-de- 
vised scheme of first, second, and even third choices, 
binding all states alike, it would be hard to conceive 
a situation in which the delegates would have to go be- 
yond the designations of the people to obtain a candi- 
date. 

The progressive movement aims to give to the voters 
not only the power to nominate candidates for President 
and Vice-President directly, but also the power to elect 
them directly. The people of the United States have 
become so accustomed to the method of election of the 
President and Vice-President through the electoral col- 
lege that they fail to recognize it as a political anomaly 
and are not conscious of the rather important advan- 
tages that would result if it were abolished. There is 
no reason why Presidents and Vice-Presidents to-day 
should be elected by an electoral college save that the 

1 California, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, 
Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, 
North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and 
.Wisconsin. 



152 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

constitution is difficult to amend and the people are 
inert. Theoretically, it is extremely incongruous for 
voters to cast their ballots for men who have no other 
duty than to journey to the different state capitols and 
cast their votes for candidates already as good as elected. 

There are several important advantages besides that 
of removing an atrophied body to be gained by abolish- 
ing the electoral college. In the first place, it would 
be a step in the direction of breaking up the Solid 
South. For years the Kepublican party has made 
little or no effort to win votes in the southern 
states because the Democrats were always certain to ob- 
tain more popular votes and thus win the entire elec- 
toral vote. If a majority of the popular votes deter- 
mined the election, it would pay the Progressive or Re- 
publican party to canvass every state, because the votes 
gained, however few, would help to swell the total in 
the other states. 

In the second place, the present tendency to concen- 
trate the campaign in a few pivotal or doubtful states 
would not be so pronounced. Both parties now regard 
certain states as "safe" ; i. e., a majority of the voters 
can be counted on to vote the same ticket in every elec- 
tion. So some states are Democratic and others Repub- 
lican. The incentive to carry the campaign into those 
states is very slight. A few thousand popular votes 
one way or the other will not change the electoral vote 
at all. The result is that two or three states become the 
storm-center of the entire campaign. The story is told 
of a small politician in one of the districts of New York 
City who boasted that he could control the outcome of a 
national election. His explanation was that he could 
produce enough votes in his district to swing the popu- 
lar vote of New York State in favor of his party ; and, 
since New York's electoral vote was usually decisive, 



MEASURES OF GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL 153 

he claimed that he could decide the national election. 
While the story is probably apocryphal and the claim 
doubtless exaggerated, it is true as a general proposi- 
tion that special influence and corruption can work most 
effectively when they can concentrate on a few crucial 
points. With the removal of the electoral college and 
the consequent increased importance of the individual 
vote all over the country, these crucial points would be 
fewer and more difficult to find. 

A third advantage that would follow the modification 
of the present system of electing the President would be 
to make it impossible for one candidate to be elected 
over another who had received a higher number of popu- 
lar votes. Theoretically, such a situation is quite pos- 
sible. The defeated candidate might carry many states 
with few electoral votes, such as Delaware, Vermont, 
Alabama, etc., by overwhelming majorities and yet lose 
by a few votes in such states as New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, and Illinois. Precisely this situation has already 
arisen in two national campaigns. In 1876 Tilden was 
defeated for the presidency by one electoral vote, al- 
though he received 250,000 more popular votes than his 
successful competitor, Hayes. Again in 1888, although 
Cleveland polled 98,000 more popular votes than Har- 
rison, the latter was elected by the electoral college by 
a majority of sixty-five votes. 

An important step was taken in the direction of 
greater control by the people over the legislative branch 
of the national government when the amendment pro- 
viding for the direct election of United States senators 
was ratified by the necessary three-fourths of the states. 
Whether the change in the method of election will re- 
sult in a stronger and more representative body of sen- 
ators remains to be seen. It would seem, however, that 
the change must be for the better. For years the Sen- 



154 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

ate was composed largely of men whose private interests 
made them conspicuously unfit to represent the people 
and whose practices evoked the keen observation by 
Mr. Bryce that ''some, an increasing number, are sena- 
tors because they are rich ; a few are rich because they 
are senators.*' * Railroads, industrial corporations, 
and "big business'' in general spent thousands of dollars 
to send men to the United States Senate to "protect 
their interests.'' If, with the power in their hands to 
send men truly representative of their own interests, the 
people continue to send men of the type that have 
largely made up the Senate for the past quarter of a 
century, there will at least be the satisfaction of know- 
ing that the responsibility is theirs and that the ability 
of the people to govern themselves has been tested in 
an important particular and found wanting. 

In spite of the fact that all the members of the na- 
tional legislature are now elected directly by the peo- 
ple, there is at least one vital reform that needs to be 
made to bring the legislative branch of the national 
government into closer contact with the people and pub- 
lic opinion. To conduct the vast volume of business 
that comes before it, Congress of necessity must resort 
to committees. As soon as a bill has been introduced, 
it is referred to the proper committee for investigation 
and report. These committees through their ability to 
withhold a bill, to report it adversely, or to modify it in 
such a way that its true character is changed, become 
all-powerful. It is often quite possible, even where 
both branches of the legislature are progressive, for a 
small minority by proper manipulation of committees 
to block sound legislation and even, in some instances, 
to put through pernicious laws. 

The character of the influence that the committees 

1 American Commonwealth (abridged), p. 89. 



MEASURES OF GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL 155 

exercise upon legislation depends chiefly upon the 
method by which appointments to them are made and 
the way in which they operate. Until recently com- 
mittees in the House of Representatives were appointed 
by the Speaker. With this power, Cannon made his 
influence over the affairs of the country second only to 
that of the President. Bills were amended, "killed" 
or reported as he dictated. Practically no one could put 
an important bill through without his approval. This 
practice was changed after the revolt against Cannon 
in 1910 and committee appointments are now made by 
the House as a whole. In order to check still further 
the power of the Speaker and to prevent the domination 
of legislation by him, the House rules also provide that 
the Speaker may not be elected a member of the im- 
portant Committee on Rules. The practice with re- 
gard to committee appointments in the Senate is much 
the same as that which obtains in the House. Commit- 
tee appointments are made by a kind of "steering com- 
mittee," subject, however, to the approval of the party 
caucus. In both Houses at present, therefore, commit- 
tee appointments are made, in the last analysis, by the 
party caucus, and, although this is an improvement over 
the old method of appointment by the chair which gave 
Speakers of the House so much power, the new method 
is open to abuse. Party caucuses are secret and are apt 
to be controlled by a few. A matter of so grave im- 
portance to legislation as the selection of committees 
should be subject to the widest publicity and the full 
influence of public opinion. 

As important as the method of appointing the mem- 
bers of committees is the way in which the committees 
conduct their business. It has long been the practice 
for committees in discussing important legislation to do 
so behind closed doors. Lobbyists and others especially 



156 THE PEOGKESSrVE MOVEMENT 

interested in the bills before the committees are admit- 
ted and allowed to present their arguments, but the gen- 
eral public knows nothing of what goes on. The pro- 
gressive movement favors giving the widest publicity 
to the deliberations of committees, with the exception, 
of course, of those few cases where secrecy is absolutely 
necessary. The public is entitled to know the course of 
argument followed in the committee room where the 
fate of the bill is really decided and to know the argu- 
ments that guide committees in making recommenda- 
tions. 

With senators and members of the House of Eepre- 
sentatives elected by the people ; with the committees of 
these two bodies elected by the representatives of the 
people; with the work of the committees and of the 
two Houses open to public scrutiny and public opinion ; 
the people will be in a fair way to control the legislative 
branch of the federal government. 

It is a singular fact in our political life that the 
judiciary, which occupies the most important position 
of the three branches of government, is least subject to 
popular control. In addition to the great power which 
it is ordinarily supposed to have; i. e., the power to 
pass as the court of last resort on questions arising un- 
der the constitution, the Supreme Court exercises the 
right by judicial interpretation to alter acts of Con- 
gress, to declare statutes unconstitutional, and to amend 
the federal constitution. In the famous Standard Oil * 
and Tobacco cases, as Justice Harlan pointed out in his 
able dissenting, opinion, the Supreme Court read into 
the Sherman Anti-Trust Act the word ' 'unreasonable" 
which was never intended by the framers of the law to 
be used. In a number of cases, notably those involving 
the question of the reasonableness of railroad rates im- 

1 221 U. S., 1. 



MEASURES OF GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL 157 

posed by state commissions, the Supreme Court has 
amended Article XIV of the federal constitution to read 
"nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty 
or property without due process of law and without giv- 
ing just compensation/' l 

Most important of all its powers, however, is the 
power to declare a law unconstitutional. By means of 
this power it can nullify almost any act of Congress as 
well as those of all the states if they are brought into 
the federal courts. Even if this authority were exer- 
cised with the greatest honesty — and it must be admit- 
ted that on the whole it has been so exercised — it would 
be contrary to the spirit of democratic government to 
give a small body of men such unusual power. When it 
is considered, too, that with the present difficult method 
of amending the constitution for the Supreme Court to 
declare a law unconstitutional is tantamount to forcing 
the country to wait fifteen or twenty years to obtain the 
right to pass it, the tremendous importance of the Su- 
preme Court and its potential influence for good or evil 
become apparent. 

To control this powerful instrument of government, 
the people possess very limited means. In fact, the 
framers of the constitution planned to place the Su- 
preme Court as far as possible beyond the influence of 
public opinion. To that end, provision was made for 
the appointment of judges for life by the President, 
who in turn was to be elected by an electoral college 
made up of the propertied and educated men ; and with 
the advice and consent of a Senate chosen by state legis- 
latures. At no point were the people directly to touch 
the Supreme Court. 

To establish this point of contact, two measures have 

1 See article by Jesse F. Orton, in The Independent, December 
5, 1912. 



158 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

been suggested: the recall of judges and the recall of 
judicial decisions that declare a law unconstitutional. 
The purpose of the first of these two measures is to give 
to the people the power to remove from office judges 
who by their decisions have shown, not necessarily that 
they are dishonest and corrupt, but that they are out of 
touch with enlightened public opinion. The purpose 
of the second is to give the people the final authority to 
decide what shall be the fundamental law of the land. 
The recall of judges in the nation was advocated by 
many progressive leaders as a check upon the autocratic 
power of the Supreme Court after it had been adopted 
with success in several of the states; but a full discus- 
sion of the merits and practicability of the plan has de- 
veloped some objections which make it questionable 
whether it would be wise to apply it to the federal 
judges. The first of these objections is the difiiculty of 
establishing a fair basis for initiating a recall election 
because of the vast area over which the plan would 
operate. Usually recall elections are set in motion by 
petitions signed by a certain percentage or an absolute 
number of the voters. In the nation it would be next 
to impossible to fix a percentage or a number that would 
not be either so high that the voters could not call elec- 
tions with reasonable ease or so low that the system 
would not be used for petty and partisan purposes. As 
a substitute for the usual petition, it might be provided 
that automatically once in a given period, as for exam- 
ple every fourth year, the question as to whether there 
should be held an election to recall the judges of the Su- 
preme Court should be presented to the people at a Con- 
gressional election. If a majority voted in favor of such 
a proposal, an election might be held the following year, 
at which the names of all the members of the Supreme 
Court would be submitted with the direction to vote 



MEASURES OF GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL 159 

"yes" or "no" before each name to signify approval or 
disapproval of the recall of that judge. If, in the case 
of any judge, a majority voted in favor of his recall, 
he would be removed and the President would then 
appoint his successor. But even such a method would 
be an unsatisfactory one. 

In the case of federal judges serving in a limited 
area, as, for example, judges of district courts, the prob- 
lem of instituting the recall by petitions would not be so 
difficult. A certain percentage of the voters of the dis- 
trict in which the judge served could be permitted to call 
the election and the adverse vote of a majority of those 
voting would be sufficient to remove the judge. At best, 
however, either in the case of the Supreme Court judges 
or of the judges of the inferior federal courts, the prob- 
lem of working out a fair method of calling an election 
is a difficult one — so difficult that the desirability of 
undertaking it at all is open to serious question. 

' The second measure suggested to give the people 
greater control over the federal judiciary, i. e., the re- 
call of judicial decisions that declare a law unconsti- 
tutional, seems to be more practicable; and, it may be 
added, more urgently needed. The character of the 
judges that have sat in the Supreme Court of the United 
States has, on the whole, been high. Public opinion 
and tradition have combined to obtain men of ability, 
learning, and character. Charges of corruption and dis- 
honesty have been practically negligible. What is 
needed therefore is not a system, at best exceedingly 
difficult to operate with fairness, to remove corrupt and 
dishonest judges from office, but a system that can be 
easily operated to check an abusive exercise of the tre- 
mendous powers that belong to a court organized as our 
Supreme Court is. 

Of all the ways in which the Supreme Court can 



160 THE PEOGR-ESSIYE MOVEMENT 

thwart the will of the people, that of declaring laws 
unconstitutional is the most effective. This is espe- 
cially true when the defect goes to the heart of the law 
and requires a constitutional amendment to remove it. 
The decision of the Supreme Court, in the Income Tax 
case in 1895 postponed the imposition of an income tax 
eighteen years and cost the country millions of dollars 
in revenue. The decision of the same court in the 
Southern Pacific Railroad Company case, in which it 
was held that the Southern Pacific came within the 
meaning of the fourteenth amendment and that any 
greater tax placed upon it than was placed upon other 
individuals was unconstitutional, became a bulwark of 
special and corporate interests and helped the Southern 
Pacific Eailroad Company in its spoliation of the State 
of California. It is on such questions as these that the 
progressive movement believes that the people should 
have the right to disagree with the Supreme Court's in- 
terpretation of the fundamental law. "With a system 
providing for the recall of judicial decisions in effect, 
every time the Supreme Court declared a law unconsti- 
tutional, an automatic appeal would be made to the peo- 
ple at the next general election. At that election, voters 
would vote "yes" or "no," afiirming or reversing the 
court's decree. In some cases, a reversal of the Su- 
preme Court by the people would involve a mere differ- 
ence of interpretation of the constitution; in others, it 
would be tantamount to adding an amendment to it. 

As was intimated above, such a plan for recalling ju- 
dicial decisions that declare laws unconstitutional would 
probably be a sufficient modification of the machinery 
of the federal government, so far as the judiciary is 
concerned, to secure to the people a larger measure of 
control. If, with this scheme in operation, the courts 
still failed to respond to public opinion, some method 



MEASURES OF GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL 161 

of recalling the judges themselves might be worked out. 
With a sufficient extension of the powers of the na- 
tional government over corporations to insure the re- 
moval of organized special influence from the national 
government, and with the modifications of the three de- 
partments of the federal government suggested in this 
chapter put into effect, the country would be ready to 
give more thought and attention to the greater use of 
government in the solution of modern social problems 
with which individuals are unable to cope. 



CHAPTEE IX 

MEASURES OF RELIEF 

The third phase of the progressive movement in the 
nation — the extension of the functions of government to 
relieve distress — is important not so much because of 
what the national government is doing or can do in 
enacting remedial legislation, as it is because of what it 
seemingly ought to do and people generally expect that 
it will do. In the last few decades, nations all over the 
world have been earning for themselves the title "pa- 
ternalistic" because of the degree to which they have 
intervened to promote the welfare of their citizens. 
Systems of compensation for injured employees, of in- 
surance against old age and unemployment are pre- 
scribed; the number of hours a day and the conditions 
under which laborers may work are carefully regu- 
lated; child labor is prohibited; and in hundreds of 
other particulars the individual is protected. This 
same intervention by the government in matters that 
were formerly almost entirely controlled by individuals 
has been emulated by many of the state governments in 
our own country; and workingmen's compensation, 
mothers' and widows' pensions, the minimum wage, and 
similar measures have been embodied in statutes. This 
rapid extension of governmental activity abroad and in 
the individual states in this country has led many to 
expect similar action by our federal government. In- 
dustry and commerce have developed so quickly and so 

162 



MEASUEES OF RELIEF 163 

extensively that many corporations have employees in 
a number of different states, and consequently no single 
state can regulate them all. The protection of the indi- 
vidual working man and woman, and the conservation 
of child life have assumed national proportions and 
have seemingly become national problems. The de- 
mand for national legislation and national relief grows 
more and more insistent and the reasons seem more and 
more urgent; but, unhappily, the obstacles in the way 
of any great extension of the federal powers in these 
directions remain almost insuperable. 

The three most important questions in connection 
with which the federal government is called upon to 
enact remedial legislation are the protection of men, 
women, and children engaged in industrial work, taxa- 
tion, and the conservation of natural resources. Over 
the last two questions, the national government has al- 
most plenary power ; over the first, in some respects the 
most pressing question of all, it has practically no 
power at all, except in so far as it exercises control 
over employees engaged in interstate commerce. Con- 
gress can revise the tariff or abolish it entirely; it can 
levy an income tax and a corporation tax; it can pre- 
scribe the terms upon which national forests may be cut, 
mines opened, and water power used; but it is power- 
less to deal effectively with child labor, occupational dis- 
eases, or old-age insurance. 

To give to the federal government the power to grap- 
ple with these problems, moreover, would mean more 
than the mere passing of an amendment or two to the 
constitution. It would necessitate an upheaval of our 
entire constitutional and judicial system. The theory 
under which state governments can and the federal 
government cannot legislate on matters that peculiarly 
concern individuals, such as the number of hours a 



164 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

day men and women shall work and the amount of pay 
they shall receive, is that all power originally is vested 
in the states and only that portion specifically yielded 
to the federal government can be exercised by it. In 
determining whether Congress or any other federal 
agency has authority to exercise a certain power, the 
courts always presume that it has not, and require clear 
evidence to prove that it has. While the authority of 
the nation is thus restricted by the constitution and ju- 
dicial interpretation, there has developed in the states 
a power known as the police power which gives to them 
most extraordinary authority in relieving distress. If it 
can be shown that an act is necessary to promote the 
health, safety, or welfare of its citizens, the courts will 
uphold the authority of the state to enact it. It is by 
the exercise of this liberal, elastic, and far-reaching 
power that states have been able to extend their func- 
tions to relieve distress : and it is because of the lack of 
this power or one similar to it that the nation cannot 
do likewise. To give to the nation real jurisdiction 
over the changing conditions of modern industrial life 
would be to take a large share of the police power from 
the states, to upset precedents of the courts, and to 
change the fundamental spirit of the constitution. Un- 
til such fundamental changes are made, the measures 
of relief which the nation can adopt will be few and 
relatively ineffective. 

Whether the progressive movement should go so far 
as to revolutionize the present system of government so 
as to give to the nation jurisdiction which now belongs 
to the states is a question that should be determined 
only after a careful consideration of the relative advan- 
tages and disadvantages of state as compared with na- 
tional action in affording economic and social relief. 
One objection frequently raised against individual state 



MEASURES OF RELIEF 165 

action is that laws are not uniform and cannot be made 
so. New York prohibits children under fourteen from 
working in factories; Alabama has no such restriction. 
Sixteen states allow children under sixteen to work at 
night ; the others do not. 1 New Jersey and New York 
have workingmen's compensation acts; Delaware and 
Florida have not. The practical result of such di- 
versity is to put a premium on lax laws. Just as cor- 
porations, driven from many of the other states by strict 
laws, turned to such states as New Jersey and Delaware 
as havens of rest, so mill owners and factory owners 
tend to manufacture in those states where the laws gov- 
erning hours and conditions of labor, payment for in- 
juries, etc., are least numerous and least severe. As a 
result, reactionary states feel that they may mark time ; 
progressive states feel that they must mark time; and 
remedial legislation tends to come to a standstill. 

Not only is there not uniformity in the remedial 
legislation enacted by the states now, but it seems almost 
impossible to obtain it. Certainly, it cannot be ex- 
pected that forty-eight states will pass the same laws 
on the same subject without some kind of cooperation; 
and thus far the most promising kind of cooperation, 
that offered by the House of Governors, has failed. 
This house was the direct outcome of a conference 
called by President Roosevelt in 1908, to which were 
invited, in addition to senators and members of the 
House of Representatives, the governors of the several 
states. The idea was conceived of perpetuating the con- 
ference so far as the governors were concerned and the 
House of Governors was born. It has met once a year 
every year since its organization, and has discussed a 
number of questions on which uniform state action 

Pamphlet No. 184— Child Labor. Issued by National Child 
Labor Committee. 



166 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

seemed wisest; but the House of Governors, useful as 
it promised to be, has been unable to pass far beyond 
the stage of mere discussion. Diversity of state laws 
with the evils that naturally follow in their wake must 
be accepted unless federal action can be secured. 

Moreover, even if it were possible to induce the states 
to enact uniform laws, real uniformity would be almost 
as far off as ever. Laws that are similar on the statute 
books may become exceedingly diverse when interpreted 
by the courts. A workingmen's compensation act is de- 
clared unconstitutional in 2s"ew York and constitutional 
in ISTew Jersey and other states. The police power of 
one state is construed to extend to regulating the hours 
of labor in a certain industry and construed not so to 
extend in a similar case in another state. Unless the 
judges of the highest courts in the different states, as 
well as the legislators, can come together and agree upon 
uniform principles of interpretation, uniform treat- 
ment of the evils and dangers connected with modern 
industry will be impossible. 

The very diversity which is used by many as an argu- 
ment in favor of giving to the federal government con- 
trol over remedial legislation is the reason advanced by 
others for advocating that it be reserved to the indi- 
vidual states. The question, it is urged, is not whether 
some governmental agency should intervene, but 
whether the nation rather than the state should be the 
government to do so. In leaving it in the hands of the 
individual states, experiments can be made which, if 
they fail, cause little or no disturbance outside of the 
particular state in which they are made. Washington 
can try its own scheme of state insurance; Wiscon- 
sin can develop its own plan of pensioning mothers, and 
other states are warned by their failures and heartened 
by their successes. This opportunity for experimenta- 



MEASURES OF RELIEF 167 

tion, which is harmless where it fails and greatly bene- 
ficial where it succeeds, is a strong argument in favor 
of state rather than national regulation of industrial 
matters. 

There is another argument that is often advanced, 
which, though in a measure traditional, nevertheless 
merits consideration; i. e., the principle of local legis- 
lation or home rule. It is contrary to the genius and 
policy of the Anglo-Saxon peoples to give to any central 
authority power that can be effectively used by the local 
government. Englishmen and Americans are essen- 
tially self-governing and do not readily accept much 
interference from without. The fact that the training 
and the temper of the people are both against it, added 
to the fact that it would be extremely difficult for a 
central government to know intimately local conditions 
and problems, would seem to make it unwise to entrust 
to the federal government any great control over the 
individual's affairs. 

On the whole, therefore, it is not easily possible nor 
entirely desirable at this time that the national govern- 
ment should be given full power to enact remedial legis- 
lation in connection with the first important question 
with which it is often expected to deal; i. e., the pro- 
tection of men, women, and children engaged in indus- 
trial work. This view makes the third phase of the 
progressive movement in the nation of less practical 
importance — temporarily, at least — than the first and 
second, and throws the burden of relieving industrial 
distress upon the individual states. It emphasizes anew 
the proposition that the progressive movement, espe- 
cially in the nation, has not run its course, but that it 
is just beginning; and that the necessary next steps are 
to make the national government more responsive to the 
wishes of the people and to control the great industrial 



168 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

corporations engaged in interstate commerce. With 
these two steps accomplished, it will be practicable, at 
some later time, to consider a larger extension of the na- 
tional government's activities in relieving distress. 

Although the federal government cannot completely 
solve the problems that arise in connection with the pro- 
tection of men, women, and children engaged in indus- 
trial work, its jurisdiction over interstate commerce 
gives it the power to protect those employees who are 
engaged in any way in commerce between the states. 
This it has already done in a measure by enacting an 
Employers' Liability Act. This act at present applies 
only to those employees who are engaged in interstate 
c omm erce and is based upon the distinctly modern the- 
ory with respect to injuries sustained by workingmen 
while engaged in any occupation, that the cost of 
such injuries -kould be borne not by individual work- 
ingmen and feieir families, but by society in general 
in the form of aa increase in the price of the com- 
modity in the production of which the injury was suf- 
fered.' Human wear and tear are placed in the same 
category with machine wear and tear and are added to 
prices as legitimate costs of production and distribu- 
tion. 

The first Employers' Liability Act passed by the na- 
tion was enacted in 1906. 1 It provided that the em- 
ployees of any common carrier engaged in interstate 
commerce, or in commerce in the District of Columbia 
or the territories, might recover for injuries sustained 
by them in the course of their employment, even al- 
though they were caused by the negligence of a fellow- 
servant. This section of the act did away with the old 
common law rule that an employee was presumed to 
know the habits and ability of his fellow-employees and 

1 34 U. S. Stat., pt. 1, p. 232. 



MEASURES OF BELIEF 169 

to guard against any negligence on their part. It re- 
moved from the firemen or engineers of a great railroad 
corporation, employing thousands of men, the ridicu- 
lous obligation of familiarizing themselves with the ca- 
pabilities of all their fellow-workers and changed the 
rule that made it impossible for them to recover dam- 
ages when their arms or legs were broken through the 
carelessness of a track walker whom they had never 
met. 

Another provision of the Act was to the effect that the 
contributory negligence of an employee would no lon- 
ger be a bar to recovery for injuries sustained if the 
railroad company itself had violated a statute. Thus, 
if a trainman were injured through his own negli- 
gence in coupling cars in a case where the coupler was 
not of the kind prescribed by some statute, the railroad 
company could not interpose the carelessness of the 
employee as a defense. Moreover, the statute recog- 
nized the principle of comparative negligence by allow- 
ing an employee who had been injured partly because 
he had been negligent and partly because the company 
had violated a statute to recover an amount propor- 
tioned to the extent to which the company's careless- 
ness had contributed to the accident. 

Finally, the act provided that no employee should be 
barred from recovering damages on the ground that 
when he had accepted his work he had voluntarily as- 
sumed all risks incident to it and was therefore sup- 
posed to know what he was about. This privilege, how- 
ever, was given to the employee only in cases where the 
railroad had violated a statute in allowing the employee 
to assume the risk. 

This first Employers' Liability Act of 1906 was de- 
clared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in a 
group of cases known as the Employers' Liability 



170 THE PEOGBESSIVE MOVEMENT 

Cases. 1 The ground upon which the Supreme Court 
rested its decision was that the statute invaded the 
province of the state governments by including within 
its provisions all the employees of a common carrier 
operating between states and not merely those employees 
of such interstate common carriers who were engaged 
in interstate commerce. The court pointed out that 
a railroad, most of the business of which was interstate, 
might have to pay damages under the federal act to an 
employee on a small branch line that formed but a part 
of the whole system and lay wholly within a single 
state. 2 Although, as Justice Moody urged in his dis- 
senting opinion, there was good reason to believe that 
Congress intended to limit the application of the act to 
employees engaged in interstate commerce, the court 
refused to read into the statute what was not plainly 
there and accordingly declared it ambiguous and uncon- 
stitutional. 3 

To remove the objections raised by the Supreme 
Court against the first act, Congress in 1908 passed a 
second Employers' Liability Act, which, with the 
amendments passed in 1910, 4 is the law on the subject 
to-day. The second Act, so far as the modification of 
the fellow-servant doctrine, the doctrine of comparative 
negligence, and the doctrine of assumption of risk are 
concerned, is substantially the same as the first. There 
is an additional provision, however, which gives to the 
state courts concurrent jurisdiction with the federal 

1 207 U. S. 463. 

2 207 U. S. 498. 

3 It is interesting to compare the decision of the court in this 
case with that handed down in the Standard Oil Case in 221 
U. S. 1, where the court reads into the Sherman Law the word 
1 ' unreasonable. ' ' 

*For the Act, see 35 U. S. Stat., pt. 1, p. 65; for the amend- 
ment thereto, see 36 U. S. Stat., pt. 1, p. 291. 



MEASURES OF BELIEF 171 

courts and thus makes it possible for the injured work- 
ingman to bring his action in either. 

Although the Supreme Court, in declaring the first 
act unconstitutional, had intimated that the sole ob- 
jection was the ambiguity which made it appear to 
include workingmen engaged in intrastate as well as 
in interstate commerce, the second act was attacked by 
the railroads on a number of other grounds. The mat- 
ter came before the Supreme Court again in the Sec- 
ond Employers' Liability Cases, 1 and, after a thorough 
argument from all angles, the law was upheld. 

Although the Employers' Liability Act now in force 
marks a great advance over the common law, it needs 
to be improved in a number of important particulars. 
In the first place, the two common law defenses, i. e., 
that the injury was due to the negligence of a fellow- 
servant and that the risk was voluntarily and know- 
ingly assumed by the employee, should be removed in 
those cases where the employer has not violated any 
statute. Moreover, the third of these defenses, that the 
accident was caused in whole or in part by the careless- 
ness of the employee and that the amount of damages 
may, therefore, be reduced in proportion to the degree 
of the employee's negligence, should be modified so as 
to allow an employee to recover in all cases where he 
has not been willfully negligent. 

The law should be further modified to provide for 
the payment of specific sums of money instead of 
amounts determined upon by a capricious or sympa- 
thetic jury. These amounts might be stated in the act 
and be based upon the seriousness of the injury, the 
length of the time of disability, and the income of which 
the employee and his family are deprived by his in- 
capacity. Such a system has two distinct advantages. 

1 223 U. S. 1. 



172 THE PEOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

It definitely recognizes the payment of damages for 
accidents to workingmen as a legitimate cost of pro- 
duction and it insures fairness to employer and em- 
ployee by preventing the one from being mulcted and 
the other from being cheated by the uncertainty and 
prejudice of jury awards. 

The federal government, although it is limited in its 
power to enact remedial legislation except in connec- 
tion with employees engaged in interstate commerce, 
nevertheless can be of great assistance indirectly by 
conducting investigations and furnishing material upon 
which states may base their action. A large amount 
of this work is done even now by permanent federal 
departments, such as the Department of Commerce and 
the Department of Labor and by special committees or 
commissions such as the Industrial Commission and the 
present Commission on Industrial Kelations. Properly 
tabulated and interpreted, and widely spread, the re- 
sults obtained by such investigating bodies are of im- 
measurable value in molding public opinion and inciting 
it to action. There is, however, danger lest the use of 
commissions be overdone and more information amassed 
than can be readily assimilated and used. Most fed- 
eral reports are uninviting and uninteresting and are 
rarely opened by the average citizen. It would seem 
that the time has come when the needs already clearly 
shown should be met, rather than that more time and 
money should be given to placing upon them any 
stronger emphasis. 

The ability of the national government to relieve dis- 
tress so far as taxation is concerned is much greater 
than it is in connection with industrial problems. One 
of the first steps which can be taken by the federal gov- 
ernment in this regard is to pass a law providing for 
the creation of a permanent, non-partisan tariff board or 



MEASURES OF RELIEF 173 

commission, appointed by the President for a reasonably 
long term and at a fairly high salary and having gen- 
eral jurisdiction over all tariff questions. Such a tariff 
commission, on the recommendation of President Taft, 
was established in 1909 ; but because of the purely par- 
tisan opposition of the Democrats never had a chance 
to exert any great influence and passed out of existence 
in December, 1912, on account of the failure of Con- 
gress to appropriate funds for its maintenance. Pro- 
gressive elements in all parties are agreed that the tariff 
commission should be revived, believing that in that 
way only can the worst evils of the present tariff system 
be cured. 

One of the first tasks of such a tariff commission 
would be to make an exhaustive, scientific study of the 
whole tariff question for the purpose of determining 
whether a tariff is needed ; and, if so, for what reason 
and to what extent. At present, there is no convincing 
argument based on scientific principles that a tariff is 
needed at all. The Eepublican party and its succes- 
sor, the Progressive party, maintain that American 
manufacturers and American workingmen need pro- 
tection against the injurious results of competition with 
low-priced labor in other countries; the Democrats, on 
the other hand, are equally insistent in their claim that 
a protective tariff is unnecessary and that it merely 
serves to foster trusts and monopolies, to raise the cost 
of living without adding to the rate of wages by keep- 
ing out cheaper products from abroad ; but Democrats, 
Progressives, and Republicans alike can offer little or 
no logical support for their contentions. A careful 
study of the entire question by an unprejudiced tariff 
commission, including a comparison of labor condi- 
tions, wages, standards of living, etc., here and abroad, 
as well as the availability of raw materials, cost of trans- 



174 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

portation, and other similar factors, would make im- 
possible the conflicting statements that are now heard 
from seemingly reliable sources and would go far to- 
ward establishing a reasonable and just tariff policy. 

In the second place, a tariff commission would abol- 
ish a practice which custom alone has rendered tol- 
erable; i. e., the practice of revising the entire tariff 
at one time. Xot only does Congress at present attempt 
the tremendous task of revising the tariff on hundreds 
of articles as different as wire nails, feathers, and sugar 
at one session ; but as a rule the revision is put off as 
long as possible and is then rushed through in a few 
months. Of the last two tariff sessions, the first — that 
of 1909 — lasted only five months, and the second — that 
of 1913 — lasted six; and, although in each case there 
were men on the committees in charge of the revision 
who had had former experience in tariff revisions, the 
time allotted to the committees, to Congress, and to the 
nation as a whole, was altogether too short. 

The evil results that flow from this wholesale re- 
vision are manifold. In addition to the objection al- 
ready hinted at that no adequate study can be made 
of labor conditions and the other elements that must be 
considered in imposing an equitable tariff, exceptional 
opportunity for graft and corruption is offered. The 
graft takes the form of log-rolling and trading votes, 
while the corruption appears as outright bribery. The 
senator from Louisiana, to protect his interests, will 
vote for a high tariff on woolens if the senator from 
Massachusetts will do what he can to keep out cane 
sugar. And in the secrecy of the committee room where 
not even members of Congress can follow the intricate 
deliberations and agreements on the several schedules, 
it is not difficult for those interested to see to it that the 



MEASURES OF RELIEF 175 

tariff is "properly" adjusted even if bribery or what 
amounts to bribery must be resorted to in doing so. 

A third defect of the present system of tariff-making 
is the tendency to use it almost entirely for political 
purposes. Whenever a political party lacks an effective 
campaign issue, it seizes upon the high cost of living 
or the impoverished condition of workingmen, or the 
depression in business and manufacture, and attributes 
these phenomena to the tariff. Parties out of power 
add to their own strength by promising to revise the 
tariff if they are placed in power ; and, at the same time, 
attempt to discredit and weaken the party that is in 
power by arousing public opinion to demand a change. 
If the unfortunate party in power revises the tariff 
upward, there is an outcry that it has broken its plat- 
form pledge because all parties are supposed to pledge 
downward revisions; if, on the other hand, it revises 
downward, business is unsettled and the party is ac- 
cused of starting a panic. Thus in 1909 the Eepub- 
lican party, when forced by public opinion to change 
the tariff, enacted the Payne-Aldrich bill, which made 
a number of substantial increases and thereby opened 
the party to the accusation of violating its pledge. In 
1913 the Democratic Congress revised the tariff down- 
ward through the Underwood bill and, for that reason, 
is held largely responsible for the lack of confidence 
that prevails in the business world. 

The tariff commission advocated by the progressive 
movement will make difficult, if not impossible, the use 
of the tariff for political purposes. In fact, one of the 
principal objects in establishing the commission will be 
to remove the tariff as an issue entirely from politics. 
Like the Interstate Commerce Commission, the tariff 
commission will have practically no connection with 
Congress save to make suggestions and recommend 



176 THE PKOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

laws; and, like the railroad commission, it will be un- 
affected by political agitations and changes. 

In addition to removing the serious defects of the 
present method of revising the tariff, there are certain 
positive advantages which a commission such as has 
been suggested may be expected to confer. In the first 
place, the relation of the tariff to the high cost of liv- 
ing can be ascertained with a fair degree of certainty; 
and, if it be found that the tariff is really responsible, 
the duties on necessities can be reduced or removed. By 
a judicious shifting of revenues, taking the tax off 
some and placing it upon others, the burden can ulti- 
mately be placed upon those best able to bear it. This 
process is of necessity a difficult one; because of the 
tendency of all taxes to fall upon the poorer classes, 
it involves more than removing the duty on wool and 
increasing it on diamonds. But beyond a doubt, by a 
series of careful adjustments, a tariff commission could 
do much to lighten the present burdens. 

In the second place, distress will be relieved to the 
extent to which it is caused by trusts, monopolies, and 
combinations in restraint of trade that are now made 
possible because of protection by the tariff from any 
real competition. Kot all trusts and monopolies de- 
pend upon the tariff for their existence, it is true. 
Some are natural and would exist were the tariff en- 
tirely removed. ^N"or is it certain that artificial national 
trusts when threatened with dissolution by the removal 
of the tariff may not be driven to combine with other 
artificial national trusts to form artificial international 
trusts. But, at any rate, whatever turn the develop- 
ment of trusts may take, the most satisfactory adjust- 
ment of their relations to the tariff will come through 
a non-partisan commission such as has been described. 

In the third place, the periodic disturbances of busi- 



MEASURES OF RELIEF 177 

ness that are now caused by frequent revisions of the 
tariff will be unknown. At most, the one or two indus- 
tries affected by changes in a few items in a single 
schedule will be disturbed, and even in those cases the 
disturbance will not be serious because it will presuma- 
bly have been anticipated and provided for by the com- 
mission. Business men all over the country will not 
have a disposition as at present to curtail manufactur- 
ing and trading for weeks and months while they await 
the new tariff provisions and observe their general oper- 
ation and effect. 

Finally, it will be possible for public opinion to ex- 
ercise a more effective influence on tariff revisions. In- 
stead of being limited, through inability to follow the 
course of legislation in Congress, to a general demand 
that the tariff be revised up or down, and, in many in- 
stances, not knowing until after the act has been pub- 
lished which way the tariff is going, it will be possible 
to know and discuss each schedule and each item as it 
comes before the commission. This need not mean that 
the tariff will be revised as the result of popular clamor. 
What it will mean, however, is that every interest 
affected will have an opportunity to be heard and that 
the average citizen will be able, if he so desires, to fol- 
low and understand the policy and purpose that govern 
the imposition of a tax which he is obliged directly or 
indirectly to pay. 

To supply the revenue of which the government may 
be deprived by any great reduction of the tariff; and, 
at the same time, to carry out the policy of placing the 
burden of taxation on those who, by reason of their 
wealth, are most able to bear it, the progressive move- 
ment proposes a national tax on all inheritances. Such 
a tax should, of course, establish a reasonable exemption 
limit, apply a carefully graduated rate, and make lib- 



178 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

eral exemption allowance in favor of widows, children, 
direct heirs, charitable institutions, and similar legatees. 
There are, it is true, taxes of a similar kind at present 
in effect in a number of the states ; but that should not 
be a controlling reason why the national government 
should not add another to raise money for national 
purposes. If such a tax were properly graduated and 
the state taxes taken into consideration in fixing the 
rate, a national inheritance tax would probably work 
no great injustice. On the other hand, it would have 
one decided advantage in addition to replacing revenue 
lost by a reduction of the tariff on necessities. It would 
aid in some small degree in reducing the swollen for- 
tunes that have been accumulated and that are, in many 
respects, a menace to the nation. A revised tariff that 
will take the duties off necessities and place them upon 
luxuries, supplemented by the income tax now in force 
and the proposed inheritance tax, will do much to in- 
troduce a more equitable system of taxation and thus 
relieve, in some degree, present distress. 

The third great question, in connection with which 
the federal government is asked to relieve distress, is 
the conservation of natural resources. In this field, un- 
questionably, the federal government can accomplish 
more good than the states acting singly or in coopera- 
tion. 

''Theoretically the states can develop and protect 

the streams . . . within their respective borders, 
and if these streams are interstate in character 
the states affected can unite in plans and expendi- 
tures for their joint protection and development. 
Practically, however, the tendency is increasingly 
in the direction of federal action upon such mat- 
ters. Some of the individual states are developing 



MEASURES OF EELIEP 179 

effective policies of water conservation, but it is 
the federal government after all which is called 
upon to make the chief expenditures for the devel- 
opment of navigation and for the protection of the 
forest cover around the sources and along the wa- 
tersheds of both navigable and non-navigable 
streams. It is the federal government which will 
be asked to build the reservoirs in which to im- 
pound the flood waters at their source so that devas- 
tation may be prevented and stream flow be made 
regular and beneficent. . . . The states which are 
jointly interested in the disposition and develop- 
ment of interstate waters not only do not cooperate 
with each other, but are in fact antagonistic." 1 

What is true about water and water power is equally 
true about the other important natural resources such 
as minerals, land, and forests; state authority has a 
tendency to be weak and uncertain and quite unable 
to cope with the difficult problems that constantly arise. 

The fundamental underlying principle of the whole 
conservation movement is that the present generation, 
in making use of the resources of the country, should 
have in mind the needs of the generations that are to 
come. In all instances, the practical application of that 
principle means that resources shall be used economi- 
cally and wisely ; and, in some cases, goes to the extent 
of prohibiting the use of certain resources entirely. If 
a natural resource is to be used and its use is placed in 
the hands of a private individual or corporation, the 
greatest care should be exercised to make certain that 
some governmental agency, state or national, retains 
general control. This may be done by letting out the 
privilege of developing the resource on a short-term 

1 Eeport of the Secretary of the Interior, 1912, p. 19. 



180 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

lease or by granting the privilege outright and exercis- 
ing close supervision by means of a commission. This 
policy has already been adopted by the federal govern- 
ment to a certain degree ; it should be confirmed c md ex- 
tended to all cases. If the government adopts the policy 
of retaining the natural resources of the country and 
developing them itself, it should recognize them as pub- 
lic utilities to be managed for service and convenience 
and not exploited for mere profit. 

The natural resource in the proper development of 
which lies the national government's largest opportunity 
for service is waterways. As iiistruments of interstate 
commerce, as sources of water power and irrigation, the 
waterways can be made immensely more valuable than 
they are at present ; while as causes of floods and disas- 
ters a proper control over them can do much to alleviate 
misery and distress. 

So much attention has been given during the last 
twenty or thirty years to the development and regula- 
tion of railroads that there is some danger that the 1 im- 
portance of waterways as arteries of interstate commerce 
may be overlooked. In the United States, on June 30, 
1912, there were 240,239 miles of railway track, which 
during the preceding fiscal year carried approximately 
1,818,232,193 tons of freight. 1 Because of the dearth 
of statistics, the exact amount of traffic of the entire 
system of inland waterways cannot be given for the 
same period, but it is safe to say that it is not one-tenth 
as much. 2 Rivers and canals that formerly teemed 
with commerce have been allowed to become obstructed 
and to remain unrepaired; canal traffic in ISTew York 
State, which is typical of canal traffic all over the 
country, has decreased from 3,345,941 tons in 1900 

1 Am. Year Book, 1913, p. 561. 
2 Ibid., pp. 554-555. 



MEASURES OF RELIEF 181 

to 2,606,116 tons in 1912; 1 and cities that formerly 
were centers of commerce and trade have lost greatly 
in prestige. 

There seems to be no good reason why, under the 
initiative of the federal government, there should not 
be a revival of traffic by water. At present, the rail- 
roads are unable to handle the freight that is given to 
them ; and, if the amount continues to increase as rap- 
idly in the next decade as it has in the last, the need 
of additional facilities for carrying it will become ex- 
tremely urgent. Another reason for looking more and 
more to the waterways as means of interstate commerce 
is that transportation is much cheaper by water than it 
can possibly be made by rail. Eailroad rates have been 
hammered down so consistently by the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission at the demand of public opinion that 
no great reductions can fairly be asked from that quar- 
ter. In fact, railroads are constantly demanding rate 
increases on the ground that the present rates do not 
yield a fair return on the companies' investments. A 
well-devised system of navigable waterways would rap- 
idly increase the freight-carrying capacity of the coun- 
try. Not only could freight be carried as safely and as 
cheaply by water as by rail, but, in some cases, it could 
be carried even more expeditiously. The indirect bene- 
fits of government aid in this direction would be a lower- 
ing of the cost of living, the stimulation of the flow of 
commerce in arteries now almost shrunken from disuse, 
and a quickening of trade and industry all over the 
country. To a certain extent, too, the vitalizing of 
inland waterway commerce would help to develop many 
of the smaller cities and would counteract the tendency 
toward too great centralization in large cities which 
have unusual natural facilities for handling commerce. 
1 Ibid., p. 556. 



182 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

A second way in which the federal government can 
be of assistance in connection with waterways is in pro- 
moting, extending, and regulating their use for the pur- 
pose of generating water power. " There is no more im- 
portant subject now pending before Congress and the 
country than the adoption of a definite and compre- 
hensive water-power policy." 1 Such a policy should 
have as its fundamental principle the development of 
water powers for public rather than private uses. Ac- 
cording to Herbert Knox Smith, former Co mm issioner 
of Corporations, thirteen companies, the most conspicu- 
ous of which are the General Electric Company and the 
Westinghouse Company, control more than one-third of 
the entire development of water power in the United 
States. 2 The first step, therefore, which the federal 
government should take is to place these private cor- 
porations under effective supervision. This can be done 
by providing for a license fee or by retaining the right 
to revoke a grant entirely if it is not satisfactorily used. 
A second step which the government should take is to 
make certain that all potential water power is devel- 
oped. Water that can be profitably used should not be 
allowed to remain idle either on land owned by the gov- 
ernment or on that which has been granted to private 
individuals or corporations. In the third place, the 
national government should see to it that water-power 
rights, like railroad facilities, are extended to all upon 
equal terms. The gravest danger that could arise in 
the development of the water power of the country is 
the formation of a water-power monopoly uncontrolled 
by any governmental agency and giving service of a 
kind and amount determined by its own inclination and 

1 Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1912, p. 14. 

2 Quoted by Van Hise, Conservation of Natural Resources, 
p. 135. 



MEASURES OF RELIEF 183 

the desire to make profit. The government is needed, 
finally, to regulate the rates that are charged for water 
power and for the electric current and power generated 
by its use. As in the case of railroads, rates should be 
based on the amount of capital actually invested where 
the enterprise is a private one and solely on public con- 
venience and necessity where the public is the owner. 
Under no circumstances should the waterways be re- 
garded as mere means of making profit. 

A third way in which the national government can 
assist so far as waterways are concerned is in connec- 
tion with their use for purposes of irrigation. Con- 
gress has already done a great deal in this direction by 
passing, in 1902, the Newlands or Keclamation Act, 
which provided for the use of government funds to con- 
struct reservoirs, dams, and irrigation systems. The 
money so appropriated for particular projects was to be 
repaid by farmers who used the water so that it might 
be invested again in other projects, and thus eventually 
reclaim as much as possible of the arid land of the 
country. Since the act went into effect, over a million 
acres have been reclaimed, of which more than 721,000 
acres are now irrigated and tilled. Sixty-nine million 
dollars have been spent, of which three millions have 
been returned as water rents and charges. 1 The work 
has been somewhat retarded by the operations of land 
speculators who have sold land at high prices to farmers 
on the installment plan, arranging to have their pay- 
ments for the land take precedence over payments to 
the government for the water rights, and thus postpon- 
ing the beginning by the government of new irrigation 
projects. This practice should be stopped at once and 
government payments should be made promptly so that 
the work of reclamation may be carried on as rapidly 

x See Report of Secretary of Interior, 1912. 



184 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

as possible. The present irrigation policy of the gov- 
ernment should be encouraged and extended. Above 
all things, the future of irrigation should not be allowed 
to fall entirely into private hands. Many of these cor- 
porations organized and built irrigation ditches before 
the national government took up the problem and now 
control a very large area of irrigated and irrigable land. 
If the government does not take over these corporations 
entirely, it should at least make certain that they are 
subjected to the strictest control. 1 

A final way in which the federal government can be 
of assistance in connection with the waterways of the 
country is by taking steps to prevent the occurrence of 
floods. Scarcely a year passes without the record of 
some terrible flood disaster such as those which Dayton, 
Ohio, and a number of the cities along the Mississippi 
experienced in 1913. In addition to the more than 
occasional loss of life, more than $50,000,000 worth of 
property is destroyed in the United States by flood 
every year. 2 The assistance which the national govern- 
ment can render in preventing these floods is chiefly of 
three kinds : by purchasing and preserving forest lands 
at the sources of streams and thus making possible a 
constant and steady flow; by constructing reservoirs to 
hold storm and other excess water; and, finally, by 
building dams and levees to keep streams from over- 
flowing their banks. The federal government has al- 
ready given assistance of the first kind by appropriating 
$11,000,000 to be used for the purchase of forest lands 
at the headwaters of streams and rivers to improve their 

x See Van Hise, Conservation of Natural Resources, p. 185, and 
Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1912, p. 23. 

2 American Year Boole, 1913, p. 288. Van Hise quotes Leigh- 
ton's statement that the annual loss is $237,800,000, but this 
probably includes indirect as well as direct damages; see Van 
Hise, Conservation of Natural Resources, p. 182. 



MEASURES OF RELIEF 185 

navigability and continuity of flow. 1 Most of this 
money is being spent in buying up tracts of land in the 
East. The necessity of appropriating more money for 
similar purposes in connection with streams in the West 
will be greatly diminished if the national government 
will but adopt now a far-sighted policy and refuse to 
part with government forest areas, the preservation of 
which will be helpful in promoting uniformity and regu- 
larity of the flow of streams and rivers. The policy of 
the government in allowing gigantic reservoirs, upon 
the stability of which thousands of lives and millions 
of dollars' worth of property directly depend, to be con- 
structed and maintained by private individuals, is 
wrong both in theory and in practice. The federal gov- 
ernment either should itself build reservoirs or should 
make certain that those built by private persons are 
safe by subjecting them to thorough and frequent in- 
spection. Finally, in building dams and levees, the 
frequency with which such rivers as the Mississippi 
break down the embankments and overrun the land and 
the impotence of the states in meeting the situation, 
demonstrate the need of effective federal action. The 
same methods and perhaps the same machinery that were 
used by the government in constructing the Panama 
Canal might be used in improving great inland water- 
ways. The expense entailed upon the national govern- 
ment in extending further aid in these three directions ; 
i. e., purchasing forest areas, constructing reservoirs, 
and building dams and levees, would be offset in a com- 
paratively short time by the savings that would result 
from the prevention of the present enormous loss and 
damage of property by floods. 

In so far as conservation of natural resources is con- 
cerned, the progressive movement in the nation is of the 
1 36 U. S. Stat., pt. 1, p. 961. Weeks Forest Reserve Act. 



186 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

utmost importance because of the aid which the na- 
tional government, and it alone, can give. In so far as 
a readjustment of the system of taxation is concerned, 
the national government can offer a fair amount of re- 
lief. In so far as relief of the distress and poverty 
caused by the complex conditions of modern industrial 
life are concerned, however, the movement in the na- 
tion is relatively insignificant. On the whole, the steps 
which the progressive movement in the nation must 
take next are the modification of the theory and struc- 
ture of the national government which make it so diffi- 
cult, for the federal government to meet the demands 
made upon it : and to evolve and perfect a system of ef- 
fective corporation control. 



PAET III 

THE PKOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT IN THE 
STATE 



CHAPTER X 

MEASURES OF CONTROL OVER THE NOMINATION AND 
ELECTION OF OFFICIALS 

Fundamentally, the principles of the progressive 
movement in the state are the same as those in the na- 
tion: corrupt special influence must be removed; the 
structure of government must be modified so as to allow 
a greater and more direct participation by the people 
in the conduct of public affairs; and, finally, the func- 
tions of government must be increased in an effort to 
meet industrial and social needs. Because of the lim- 
ited area of the states, certain problems connected with 
the movement, such as the control of industrial and 
railroad corporations, are not so great as they are in the 
nation ; and, because of the same limitation in area, 
certain other problems, such as direct legislation and 
the protection of men, women, and children engaged in 
industrial work, are more important because they are 
more acute and at the same time can more readily be 
solved. In the nation, moreover, partly because of the 
peculiar system of government which narrowly delimits 
its powers, the progressive movement is not so far ad- 
vanced as it is in the states. For that reason, the pri- 
mary emphasis at present, so far as the nation is con- 
cerned, must be placed upon the preliminary steps of 
governmental and corporation control ; while, in the 
states, although these preliminary steps are important, 

189 



190 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

they are becoming more and more incidental to the ex- 
tension of the functions of government to afford social, 
economic, and industrial relief. 

In advocating greater control by the people over gov- 
ernment, the progressive movement has in view not 
only an increase in the influence exercised by voters in 
politics, but also an increase in the number of those who 
exercise it. The theory of democracy upon which the 
entire progressive movement is based is that every nor- 
mal citizen who is mentally and morally fit not only has 
the right, but is also under a duty to participate in the 
solution of political problems. Holding this point of 
view, those who believe in the movement can find no 
logical reason why women should not, and every logical 
reason why they should, have the right to vote. In spite 
of the fact that the term democracy is so frequently 
used in speaking of governments, there has never yet 
been a democracy in the true sense of the term. Men 
theoretically find no difficulty in conceiving a govern- 
ment in which all the governed, with the exception of 
those that are manifestly unfit, may take an active part ; 
but they are extremely reluctant to put the theory into 
practice. And so, in the history of democracy, there 
have been property, color, and sex qualifications, no 
one of which is based upon reasonable theory and two 
of which have been recognized as wrong and removed. 
It is worthy of note, too, that the failure of most so- 
called democracies can be traced, in large measure, to 
causes closely connected with women and the things 
in which women are interested ; and it is interesting to 
speculate on the probable fate of those governments 
had the women been allowed to take an active part in 
them. 

It would be futile to attempt in the limited space that 
can be given to the topic to present a full discussion of 



NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICIALS 191 

the advantages and disadvantages of woman suffrage. 
There are, however, eertain objections to it that are so 
distinctly opposed to the underlying principles of the 
progressive movement that it will be well to give them 
some consideration. The most important of these ob- 
jeetions are live: (1) that the place for women is 
in the home and that effective participation in politics 
by women will necessarily mean the sacrifice of the 
best interests of the home; (2) that the extension of the 
franchise to women, although it may not lower the tone 
of political life, will not raise it, in fact that it will 
have practically no effect at all; (8) that participation 
in politics will tend to degrade women and diminish the 
unconscious influence which they now exert; (4) that 
the right to vote rests ultimately upon force and physi- 
cal strength and that, since women cannot be expected 
to meet all the obligations of the franchise such as 
going to war, holding office, etc., they should be given 
none of its privileges ; and, finally (5 ), that most women 
do not want to vote and that the agitation for woman 
suffrage is the work of a comparatively few restless 
and dissatisfied women who have missed their true mis- 
sion in life. 

That a woman's interests are largely in the home, in 
the same sense in which a man's interests are largely 
in the office, the shop, or the factory, may be readily 
admitted. But merely because a woman's interests are 
in the home would seem to be no more* valid as a reason 
for confining them to the home than the fact that a 
man works eight hours a day as a plumber, carpenter, 
or bricklayer would be accounted a sufficient reason for 
urging that his activities be limited to plumbing, car- 
pentry, or bricklaying. Participation in government is 
a duty which men and women should discharge in addi- 



192 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

tion to any other duties they may have to perform ; and 
no one should be allowed to shirk his — or her — share of 
the burden because he — or she — is busy with other 
things. There are, moreover, two other good reasons 
why the contention that women's interests should be 
confined to the home will not bear analysis. In the first 
place, because of the conditions of modern life, there is 
an increasingly large number of women who are forced 
out of the home into industrial and commercial life. 
These women have much more in common with men 
similarly engaged than with women who are compelled 
to do no work other than housework ; and to refuse to 
allow them the right to determine the laws that inti- 
mately affect their welfare on the ground that their 
interests are in the home is incongruous in the extreme. 
In the second place, the interests of the home, in the 
case of those women whose activities are centered there, 
are becoming less and less absorbing and exacting. As 
Olive Schreiner has so forcefully pointed out in her 
book on Woman and Labor, the tasks of the modern 
housewife are very slight, so slight that woman is fast 
becoming a parasite upon society. To prevent woman 
from falling to a position in w T hich she will have no 
value other than mere sex value, her interests must be 
increased and enlarged ; and no more fruitful field for 
her activities exists than the field of politics in the broad 
sense. 

For a long time, many opponents of woman suffrage 
contended that to admit women to politics would be a 
positive evil in that it w r ould tend to increase vice, cor- 
ruption, and graft. The advocates of woman suffrage 
answered that, far from making politics any worse 
than they now are, women would purify and ennoble 
political life. Events have not shown that either side 



NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICIALS 193 

was entirely correct in its assumption. Eleven states l 
have adopted state-wide woman suffrage, and in not one 
of them has there been any evidence that women divide 
on political questions differently from men. Testimony 
as to the effects of woman suffrage in these states is con- 
flicting: few claim that it is an unmitigated good or 
an unmitigated evil; some claim that on the whole it 
has improved conditions; others that it has made them 
somewhat worse. The truth seems to be that it is im- 
possible to tell whether there lias been any change at 
all. As this fact becomes more and more evident, the 
opponents of woman suffrage cease to object to it on 
the ground that it will do harm and object to it because 
it has not resulted in any clearly perceptible good. If 
the right of franchise were conditioned upon the ability 
to demonstrate clearly the benefit conferred upon the 
state by the exercise of it, the voting population would 
be much smaller than it now is. Not all men, any more 
than all women, can be expected to make marked im- 
provements in politics; but that is no reason why they 
should be relieved of their share of the responsibility 
and burden. On the other hand, some women can aid 
in political life in a peculiarly helpful way. An Ella 
Flagg Young as Superintendent of Schools in Chicago 
and a Katherine B. Davis as Commissioner of Charities 
in New York can render services of a kind that few men 
are equipped to give. There is, on the whole, there- 
fore, just about as much reason why all women should 
vote as there is why all men should vote. Although it 
often seems that better government could be had if 
those who seemingly contribute nothing were eliminated 

1 Wyoming (1869), Colorado (1893), Utah (1896), Idaho 
(1896), Washington (1910), California (1911), Arizona (1912), 
Kansas (1912), Oregon (1912), Montana (1914), and Nevada 
(1914). 



194 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT . 

from participating in it, the history of governments 
has shown that that government is most secure in which 
the greatest number of those subject to it have a voice 
in the conduct of its affairs. 

The third objection to woman suffrage, that it will 
tend to degrade women and rob them of the unconscious 
influence which they now exercise, really condemns it- 
self. If our political life is rotten, so rotten that women 
cannot take part in it, the logical course would seem 
to be to take steps to purify it and not to accept the situ- 
ation as inevitable and to use it as an argument for 
excluding a whole class from the exercise of the fran- 
chise. It is a mistake, too, to suppose that women, 
even when out of politics, are unaffected by low stand- 
ards in politics. Society is not divided into water-tight 
compartments; and vice, corruption, and degradation of 
men are bound to break through and exert an unwhole- 
some influence upon the ideas and ideals of women. As 
to robbing women of the unconscous uplifting influence 
which they are now said to exert, it is questionable, in 
the first place, whether the strength of that influence is 
not greatly exaggerated. How women whose chief in- 
terests are in "society" can inspire or even assist the 
public careers of their husbands is difficult to imagine. 
The greatest inspiration that women can give is through 
service, through contact with, rather than aloofness 
from, the practical problems of politics. 

Another argument, which, though not always openly 
expressed, nevertheless probably influences as many 
men against woman suffrage as any other single argu- 
ment, is the argument that women should not be given 
the privileges of the franchise because they cannot as- 
sume its burdens. The essence of this contention is that 
the right to vote rests on physical strength and brute 
force; and although men have long ceased to apply it 



NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICIALS 195 

to men and no longer exclude from participation in gov- 
ernment the weak and physically unfit, who cannot go 
to war or hold public office, they still apply it to women 
because of the traditional position which woman occu- 
pies as the inferior and dependent of man. Men are 
instinctively unwilling that women should become en- 
tirely independent ; and much of the feeling that caused 
men under the old common law to regard the wife's 
personality as merging into that of the husband still 
prevails. Practically, the objection that women cannot 
go to war or hold public office can have but little weight. 
Beyond the fact that women can be of service as nurses 
and in similar capacities, modern warfare is so con- 
ducted that there is little that a man can do that a ro- 
bust woman could not do almost as well. It takes skill 
rather than strength to shoot a modern rifle ; and mathe- 
matical exactness is more essential than brute force in 
discharging a twelve-inch gun. As modern warfare de- 
velops further, the number of things which women can 
do if the emergency requires will constantly increase. 
The contention that women are unable to hold office has 
been amply disproved by experience. Neither theoreti- 
cally nor practically is there any reason why women 
should not fill most offices as well as men and some offices 
better. The true value of the entire objection becomes 
apparent when its inconsistency is noticed. Although 
hundreds of men are unable to take part in war or to 
hold any public office that would greatly tax their 
strength, no suggestion is made that they be deprived 
of the right to vote. It is only where the right of women 
is concerned that democracy is made to rest on might 
and physical prowess. 

When all other argument fails, the opponent of 
woman suffrage raises as an unanswerable objection 
the assertion that a majority of the women do not want 



196 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

it. Overlooking the impossibility of compiling statis- 
tics to show the real attitude of women on the ques- 
tion; overlooking, too, the incongruousness of charging 
women with not wanting what they have but a remote 
possibility of obtaining; overlooking, finally, the indif- 
ference shown by men which causes a comment when 
more than sixty or seventy per cent, of the voters par- 
ticipate in an election; we come to the real point at 
issue, that women ought to take part in politics whether 
they want to or not. The franchise is a duty as well as 
a privilege and no member of society capable of assum- 
ing it can rightly evade it. l^or is this contention an- 
swered by asserting that women already are repre- 
sented in politics through their husbands and fathers 
and brothers; for beyond the fact that many women 
have no husbands and could not by the greatest stretch 
of the imagination be said to exert any influence over 
the votes of their brothers or fathers, it is no more jus- 
tifiable to discharge political responsibilities by indirec- 
tion and influence than it would be to discharge moral 
or financial obligations in the same way. It is only 
when every man and every woman feels strongly the 
responsibility resting upon him or her and conscien- 
tiously tries to meet it that special influence, graft, cor- 
ruption, and similar evils will disappear from our politi- 
cal life. 

Having defined the people so as to include the women 
as well as the men, the progressive movement aims to 
give to a majority of the people so defined an easy, di- 
rect, and certain control over their government. To do 
this, it proposes, first of all, to put into effect a group of 
measures which are designed to give to the people 
greater control over the nomination and election of 
candidates; as, for example, direct primaries, corrupt 
practices acts, the short ballot, the Massachusetts bal- 



NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICIALS 197 

lot, and an adequate system of registration; and, sec- 
ondly, a group of measures designed to give to the peo- 
ple control over candidates and policies after election; 
as, for example, the initiative, referendum, and re- 
call. The first of the measures proposed by the pro- 
gressive movement to give to the people greater control 
over the nomination and election of candidates is a 
direct primary law. It has long been the boast of poli- 
ticians that they do not care who elect candidates to 
office so long as they have the power to nominate them. 
In some districts and even in some states the confi- 
dence expressed by the politicians in the boast is well 
justified because a particular party is so strong that its 
candidates are certain of election. A Republican has 
no chance of being elected to any state-wide office in 
South Carolina, nor has a Democrat any chance in Ver- 
mont. There are hundreds of aldermanic, assembly, 
senatorial, and congressional districts where the same 
situation exists. And in states or districts where the 
situation does not exist and the parties seem about 
evenly divided, it is not uncommon for the bosses of 
the supposedly opposing parties to get together and di- 
vide the spoils between them. The methods by which 
politicians exercise their control are very simple. A 
committee appointed by the previous county, state, or 
other convention places upon the ballots the names of 
the delegates to the respective conventions. The dele- 
gates are voted upon at a so-called primary election and 
are almost invariably chosen. These irresponsible and 
practically unknown delegates then meet in the state, 
county, assembly district, or other convention and under 
the direction of the boss and committee to whom they 
owe their nomination, select candidates for the different 
offices. How little real power can be exercised by a 



198 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

majority of the people under such a system need not be 
pointed out. 

There is at present in most states some form of di- 
rect primary law, and for that reason no exhaustive 
discussion of direct primaries as a part of the pro- 
gressive movement is necessary. But in scarcely a state 
is there a direct primary law which has not some seri- 
ous defects. Here, as in so many other cases, politi- 
cians have yielded a little rather than give up all, and 
have allowed to be passed laws which are named direct 
primary laws, but which have little but the name in 
common with real direct primary legislation. Such 
halfway measures do more harm to the progressive 
movement than total failure to pass any laws at all pos- 
sibly could. They quiet the demands of those who can- 
not distinguish a thorough-going reform from a sham 
reform, and when they fail to accomplish the expected 
results they open the door to attack on all progressive 
measures. 

A first defect in many of the existing primary laws 
is the retention of the convention system for the nomi- 
nation of officers to be elected by a state-wide vote. Un- 
der a thorough-going system of direct primaries, all 
conventions are abolished except for the purpose of 
making a party platform. Xominations are made by 
petitions, the number of signatures to which is arbi- 
trarily fixed or is a certain percentage of the votes cast 
for the office at a previous election. These petitions are 
carefully examined and verified by some state official, 
who, if he finds them sufficient, places the names of 
the candidates upon the ballots. 

Another serious defect in many of the direct pri- 
mary laws now in force is the provision for plurality 
rather than majority nominations. Such a system of 
direct primaries makes it comparatively easy for ma- 



NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICIALS 199 

chine politicians, by placing a number of candidates 
in the field and thus dividing the opposition, to retain 
control. Reform elements are usually unorganized and 
slow to combine, while the regular party candidate can 
frequently count on a sufficiently large number of faith- 
ful adherents to give him the plurality necessary to se- 
cure the nomination. The result is that by controlling 
perhaps only twenty or thirty per cent, of the votes and 
causing the others to be scattered among a number of 
good candidates the machine is able to win the day. 
If a majority vote were required to nominate, the pro- 
gressive forces would realize the necessity of combining ; 
and, even if they did not, the machine element could not 
command sufficient votes to carry the primary without 
making important concessions. 

In working out a system of majority nominations, in 
order to obviate the need of holding several elections 
until some candidate has the votes necessary to a choice, 
the progressive movement proposes what is known as a 
scheme of second and third choices. If, for example, a 
candidate for governor is to be nominated, the names 
of all candidates are placed on the ballot and alongside 
of the names are three columns headed first, second, 
and third choice respectively. Each voter is asked to 
vote for one candidate for first, one for second, and one 
for third choice. In counting the votes, two different 
methods are used. Under one of these two methods, 
which is known as the Ingram method, the first choice 
votes are counted separately, and, if any one of the 
candidates receives a majority, he is declared nomi- 
nated and the count ends. If no one receives a majority 
of first choice votes, the second choice votes cast for each 
candidate are added to his first choice votes; and, if 
any candidate receives a majority of the first and sec- 
ond choice votes, he is nominated. If not, the third 



200 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

choice votes are added and the candidate that receives 
the largest total number of votes is nominated. 1 A 
striking characteristic of this method is that no candi- 
date is eliminated in passing from the counting of the 
first choice votes to the counting of the second choice 
votes. 

Another method of preferential voting is the so-called 
Australian method. Under this plan, votes are cast 
for first, second, and third choices, but where no candi- 
date receives a majority of the first choice votes cast, 
the candidate who received the lowest number of first 
choice votes is eliminated and his votes are scattered 
among the other candidates according to the second 
choice of those who voted for the eliminated candi- 
date as their first choice. If no candidate then has a 
majority, the process is repeated until only two candi- 
dates remain, and then the candidate who has received 
a majority of the first and second choice votes is de- 
clared elected. This plan is open to the objection that 
a candidate may be defeated even though he received 
more first and second choice votes than his successful 
competitor. For example : of three candidates for as- 
semblyman, one may receive 1.000 first choice votes. 
another 1.500 and the third 2.000. Of second choice 
votes, the first candidate might have 1.000. the second 
100 and the third only 100. According to the rule that 
the man receiving the lowest number of first choice 
votes is to be eliminated, the candidate who received 
1,000 votes would be declared "out." although, if second 
choice votes were considered, he would clearly be the 
popular choice. A second disadvantage of the Aus- 
tralian system as compared with the Ingram method is 
that, in order to eliminate and redistribute votes, all 

'-See Owen, The Code of the People's Pule. Sixty-first CongTess, 

Second Session; Senate Document No. 603. pp. 96-97. 



NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICIALS 201 

the ballots must be assembled at one central place, while 
under the Ingram method, since it is a mere matter of 
adding together the first, second, and third choice votes 
on each ballot, and no distribution of second choice 
votes is made, the counting can be done in the various 
precincts or districts and the totals alone sent to some 
central place. 

A third defect frequently pointed out in many of the 
direct primary laws now in force is that, while they 
theoretically encourage candidates to run independ- 
ently, nevertheless, because of the heavy expenses inci- 
dent to every political campaign, it is impossible for 
anyone who is not himself very wealthy or who does not 
have the backing of a political machine, to run with 
any promise of success. This objection has added force 
in cases where a regular election follows the primary 
election. In such cases, it is necessary for the inde- 
pendent candidate to maintain campaign headquarters, 
print and distribute literature, hire halls for meetings, 
and to incur other expenses to obtain the nomination; 
and then to go through almost exactly the same pro- 
cedure to be elected. This situation, far from crip- 
pling the power of the bosses, rather increases their 
strength. Because of superior organization, they are 
better able to obtain the names for petitions, which are 
necessary to make a man a candidate and then to as- 
sume the burden and expense of a double campaign. 

This defect in the system of direct primaries has 
been removed in a few states by the passage of an act 
which, in a measure, is supplemental to direct pri- 
maries and yet which is of use in removing special in- 
fluence and unfair opportunity in politics generally. 
This act is usually known as a corrupt practices act, 
because originally in most cases it was designed to re- 



202 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

move outright corruption and bribery; but in some 
states it has been so greatly developed that at present 
the removal of corruption is only an incidental feature. 
One phase of the corrupt practices acts that have been 
passed is that which forbids individuals and corpora- 
tions to make, and nominees to accept contributions 
which are made presumably for the purpose of obtain- 
ing special favors after election. The method employed 
to accomplish this purpose is to require all political 
parties and all candidates to file with the secretary of 
state a full statement of all campaign contributions 
and the objects for which money contributed was spent. 
This is a very common provision and is found in the 
corrupt practices acts of most of the states having 
such acts. 

It soon became apparent to progressives in some of 
the states, however, that merely to prevent the ele- 
mentary form of bribery and corruption was not 
enough to insure a fair campaign and an equal oppor- 
tunity for all the candidates. So long as a candidate 
himself was allowed to spend as much money as he 
chose in his own campaign, wealthy candidates had a 
decided advantage over their poorer competitors. The 
amounts that have been spent by candidates for such 
offices as governor of a state or United States senator 
have been notoriously large. To give every candi- 
date an equal chance, so far as finances are concerned, 
a few states have incorporated as part of a corrupt 
practices act one or more sections definitely limiting 
the amount of money which a candidate may spend. 
The "Wisconsin corrupt practices act, 1 for example, 
limits the expenditures by or on behalf of any candidate 
for any office as follows : 

1 Session Laws, 1911, C. 650, See. 94-28. 



NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICIALS 203 

"(1) For United States senator, seven thousand 
Hyo hundred dollars. 

(2) For representative in Congress, two thousand 

five hundred dollars. 

(3) For governor, judge of the supreme court 

or state superintendent of schools, &Ye thou- 
sand dollars. 

(4) For other state officers, two thousand dollars. 

(5) For state senator, four hundred dollars. 

(6) For member of assembly, one hundred fifty 

dollars. 

(7) For presidential elector at large, five hundred 

dollars, and for presidential elector for any 
congressional district, one hundred dol- 
lars." * 

In Oregon, under the Huntley Law, "no sums of 
money shall be paid, and no expenses authorized or 
incurred by or on behalf of any candidate to be paid by 
him, except such as he may pay to the state for print- 
ing ... in his campaign for nomination to any public 
office or position in this state, in excess of fifteen per 
cent, of one year's compensation or salary of the office 
for which he is a candidate; provided, that no candi- 
date shall be restricted to less than one hundred dol- 
lars. . . ." 2 In the case of campaigns for regular elec- 
tion, candidates are not allowed to spend more than ten 
per cent, of the salary attached to the office which they 
seek. 3 Thus by specifying definite sums in some cases 
and by specifying a certain percentage of the salary of 

1 There are other provisions for city officers, etc., which are not 
quoted. 

2 General Laws of Oregon, 1909, C. 3, Sec. 1. 

8 Ibid., Sec. 8. It is interesting to note that in 1913 the people 
of Montana initiated and passed a law exactly like the Oregon 
statute; see Laws of Montana, 1913, p. 593. 



204 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

the office in others, candidates' campaign expenses, both 
in primary and final elections, are being controlled and 
all candidates are placed upon a more nearly even basis. 

Progressive states are coming to the conclusion now 
that it is not sufficient to prevent corruption by forbid- 
ding individuals and corporations to contribute except 
under certain circumstances, or by limiting the amount 
of money which candidates themselves may spend; but 
that it is essential for the people to give positive aid to 
candidates in the conduct of their campaign. This is 
done in some instances by means of a pamphlet pre- 
pared and issued by the secretary of state, containing 
the statements of the different candidates, their por- 
traits, and the statements which any persons opposing 
the candidates may desire to make. All statements are 
required to be submitted a reasonable time before elec- 
tion; the statements are then compiled, a page usually 
being taken by each candidate ; and a short time before 
the election these pamphlets are distributed to all regis- 
tered voters in the state. Candidates are required to 
pay for the space which they use in amounts in pro- 
portion to the importance of the office for which they 
are running. Thus in Wisconsin, candidates for United 
States senator are charged three hundred dollars for 
the first page and one hundred and fifty for the second ; 
candidates for the House of Representatives are charged 
two hundred dollars for the first page and one hundred 
for the second, and so on. 1 The money which is paid 
for space in the state pamphlet is not included in the 
limit of expense within which candidates are held. 

Another interesting provision in these more advanced 
corrupt practices acts is that regulating advertise- 
ments in newspapers. The Oregon statute states that 
"no publisher of a newspaper or other periodical shall 

1 Session La^s 1911, C. 650, Sec. 94-27. 



NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICIALS 205 

insert, either in its advertising or reading columns, any 
paid matter which . . . tends to aid, injure, or defeat 
any candidate or political party or organization . . . 
unless it is stated therein that it is a paid advertise- 
ment. ... No person shall pay the owner, editor, pub- 
lisher, or agent of any newspaper ... to induce him 
to editorially advocate or oppose any candidate. . . ." * 
The Wisconsin statute requires further that any candi- 
date who has an interest in a newspaper or periodical 
shall file, a specified number of days before election, a 
statement showing the character and amount of the 
interest. 2 

In Colorado the people, not satisfied to forbid corrup- 
tion and to limit candidates' expenditures, passed a law 
in 1909 requiring that "the state treasurer shall pay to 
the state chairman" of each political party a for cam- 
paign purposes a sum equal to twenty-five cents for 
each vote cast at the last preceding general election for 
the nominee for governor of that political party." 3 

The state chairmen in their turn are directed to turn 
over to the county chairmen twelve and one-half cents 
for every vote cast in their respective counties for gov- 
ernor at the preceding election. Each candidate, more- 
over, is allowed to contribute to his campaign fund a 
sum not exceeding forty per cent, of the first year's 
salary of the office ; but beyond the contribution by the 
state and the limited contributions by the candidates no 
expenses may be incurred. The law is somewhat de- 
fective in that it discourages the formation and impedes 
the growth of independent parties by subsidizing most 
heavily the party that can poll the largest vote, and in 
that it allows a candidate to contribute so large a per- 

1 General Laws of Oregon, 1909, C. 3, Sec. 33. 

2 Session Laws 1911, C. 650. 

3 Session Laws 1909, C. 141. 



206 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

centage of the salary of the office for which he is run- 
ning ; but nevertheless it is a step in the right direction 
because it recognizes political campaigns as public rather 
than private enterprises and, as such, subject to the 
control and entitled to the support of the state. 

Another set of principles which the progressive move- 
ment in the state advocates for the purpose of giving to 
the voters more effective control centers about reforms 
in the ballot. The first of these principles, which had 
its origin in the effort of the last decade or more to im- 
prove municipal government, is known as the short 
ballot principle. The demand for a shorter ballot, both 
in municipal and in state elections, is based upon the 
fundamental weaknesses of the present system which 
make it impossible even with the most improved system 
of direct primaries and the most thorough-going cor- 
rupt practices act to insure the election of the best 
candidates. The first of these two weaknesses is the 
difficulty of interesting the average citizen in the elec- 
tion of unimportant officials. Every voter takes a keen 
interest in the candidates for President, governor, and 
mayor; but only the most conscientious citizen is par- 
ticularly concerned over the candidates for coroner, 
sheriff, attorney-general, or secretary of state. The sec- 
ond weakness is the sheer inability of the ordinary voter, 
who is busy with his own affairs, to discriminate wisely 
between candidates for each of thirty or forty offices. 

"Every voter who entered an election booth in 
Cleveland at the last state election was handed a 
ballot with 210 names upon it, five tickets with 
42 names each, and his duty was to vote for 42 
men. How many of these 210 men did any voter, 
not a professional politician, know so that he could 
intelligently compare the rival candidates and 



NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICIALS 207 

choose between them? Surely not more than 10 
of the men or enough to fill five of the offices. How 
then did he select the other 37 candidates for 
whom he voted ? Obviously, he did not select them 
at all. He was obliged by the necessity which 
confronted him to choose not between candidates, 
but between political parties, and he accordingly 
placed his cross under the eagle or the rooster and 
blindly, ignorantly voted for the 37 men of whom 
he knew absolutely nothing." x 

The situation in Cleveland is typical of the situation 
all over the United States. Voters are overwhelmed 
and discouraged by the enormous burden of keeping 
track of innumerable candidates and their qualifica- 
tions. 

There are two distinct methods which may be used 
to shorten ballots and remove the weaknesses in the 
present system. In the first place, elections may be 
held more frequently and the number of candidates to 
be voted for at each election can thus be reduced. This 
principle has been put in practice very widely by sep- 
arating municipal from state and national elections as 
in the case of New York City, where city elections are 
held in odd years and state and national elections (with 
the exception of elections for assembly) in the even 
years ; and in separating state from national elections, 
as in New Jersey, where the governor is chosen once 
every three years. It would seem, however, that the 
relief offered to the voter by this plan of frequent elec- 
tions is more apparent than real. The first weakness 
already pointed out, that the average citizen cannot take 
a deep interest in candidates of minor importance — 

1 The Necessity of the Short Ballot in Ohio, p. 11. Issued by 
the Municipal Association, Cleveland. 



208 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

as, for example, candidates for dairy commissioner and 
sheriff — still remains. A voter has ordinarily only a 
certain amount of time which he is willing to give to 
politics and he usually saves his interest for the im- 
portant elections and the prominent candidates. By 
comparison with presidential elections, other elections 
are known as "off years/' and the voting everywhere is 
comparatively light. 

Eeal reform, therefore, would seem to depend upon 
the second method commonly proposed; i. e., a reduc- 
tion in the number of offices to be filled and conse- 
quently of the number of candidates to be chosen. Such 
a plan involves more than a mere cutting down of the 
size of the ballot; it means a fundamental change in 
the theory of government. In the minds of many, more 
democracy means the election of more officials by the 
people. In the minds of those who support the short 
ballot principles, more democracy means the election 
of fewer officials ; or perhaps, to put it more exactly, the 
election of fewer officials means more democracy, pro- 
vided those few officials can be effectively controlled. 

In drawing the line between the officials that should 
be elected by the people and those that should be ap- 
pointed, the character of the office to be filled should be 
the deciding factor. If the office is one that has a great 
deal to do with determining the policy of government, 
as that of the governor or senator, the incumbent should 
be elected directly by the people. If, on the other hand, 
the office is chiefly administrative, better equipped men 
can usually be obtained by appointment. ISTo one would 
seriously advise that the members of the Interstate 
Commerce Commission, for example, be elected by the 
people; and yet many state officials whose duties are 
almost as lar^elv administrative as those of the mem- 
bers of the Commission are now elected in that way. 



NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICIALS 209 

In many of the states, moreover, the members of the 
governor's cabinet, the secretary of state, state treas- 
urer, attorney-general, and others, whose duties are not 
only largely administrative, but are so closely connected 
with those of the governor that any lack of harmony is 
almost certain to result in inefficiency, are elected and 
not appointed. If the character of the office were used 
as a test in the case of all state officers, probably only 
the governor, lieutenant-governor, state senators and 
members of the assembly would be chosen directly by 
the people. 

The advantages of the application of the short ballot 
principles to the state government are obvious. In the 
first place, each voter could easily take an intelligent 
part in selecting candidates. Instead of voting blindly 
for a number of men, without having any knowledge 
of their ability or of the duties of the offices which they 
are to fill, the voter could concentrate his attention on 
the character of the men who were running for the im- 
portant offices and leave to them the task of filling the 
others. In the second place, where the governor has 
full power of appointment, the responsibility for ineffi- 
ciency in any department is readily fixed. The blame 
is cast, and fitly so, on the man who appoints. Under 
the present scheme, if anything goes wrong in the office 
of the secretary of state, the governor can deny all re- 
sponsibility because he did not select the man for the 
office. Finally, better men will be chosen for both the 
elective and the appointive offices under the short bal- 
lot plan. Capable men seek responsibility and are there- 
fore more apt to run for office when the entire burden 
of the administration falls upon them than when it is 
shared with five or six others. In the case of the ap- 
pointive offices, frequently the qualities that are most 
needed for an administrative position are least effective 



210 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

in winning popular support. A man may make an ex- 
cellent secretary of state and yet be unable to poll a 
thousand popular votes. Since it is to the direct in- 
terest of a governor to have in his cabinet the most 
capable men. it is reasonable to expect that he Trill 
choose men better qualified for the subordinate state 
positions than could be elected by the people themselves. 

A second reform in connection with the ballot which 
the progressive movement in the state purposes to make 
to give the people greater control over elections is the 
substitution of the so-called Massachusetts ballot for 
the present one. "Under the Massachusetts system, the 
names of the candidates are arranged alphabetically 
under the titles of the different omces with the party 
designations after each name: and. instead of being able 
to vote for a candidate for each office by making a sin- 
gle mark under the party emblem, the voter must make 
his mark in the square alongside of each candidate for 
whom he votes. The chief merit of the Massachusetts 
ballot is that it compels the voter to think of a candi- 
date in temis of the office rather than in terms of the 
party. It is notorious that under the present system 
hundreds of voters are guided in marking their ballots 
solely by the party emblem and that this tendency is 
taken advantage of to the full by political machines. 
"With the number of candidates to be chosen at any one 
election reduced to three or four, and the names of those 
three or four grouped under the respective offices for 
which they were running, even voters of moderate in- 
telligence would be able, and those of average interest 
would be willing", to discriminate carefully among 
them. 

For the sake of completeness, a word may be said in 
concluding this chapter with reference to an adequate 
registration svsteni. Without such a svstem to make 



NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF OFFICIALS 211 

sure that each qualified voter votes only once, and that 
no voter not qualified votes at all, the other devices men- 
tioned in this chapter are apt to be of little effect. An 
adequate registration system requires two things : first, 
an effective test of a man's right to vote ; and, secondly, 
an efficient method of applying the test. One of the 
elements of such a test, of course, should be full in- 
formation concerning every elector in each district. 
This information to be of greatest value should be 
gathered not a month or two before election, but should 
be kept permanently on hand easily available for any 
who desire access to it. In Oregon, for example, every 
elector is required to register once every two years be- 
tween the first Monday in January and the fifteenth of 
May, and the registration books, except for a period of 
fourteen days about two months before election, are 
always open to the public. Another element of the test 
should be a careful comparison of the signature made 
at the time of registration and that made on election 
day. With full information on hand a sufficiently long 
time before the election, the chief problem becomes one 
of enforcing the test. In this task, the police are of the 
utmost importance. Because they do not do their work 
effectively, it has been the practice for independent civic 
organizations, such as the Honest Ballot Association in 
New York City, to send men to the polls on election day 
in an effort to prevent election frauds. Although the 
work of these organizations has, in many instances, 
been most effective, it is apt to be spasmodic and de- 
pendent upon the enthusiasm of the members ; and, be- 
yond all that, it is wrong in principle to entrust the 
suppression of frauds that vitally affect the general 
public to such volunteer bodies. The police should be 
commissioned to inspect cheap lodging houses for tran- 
sient guests, to verify addresses given by voters in reg- 



212 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

istering ; and on election day should be kept inside the 
polling places to challenge suspicious-looking voters and 
compare their statements with those made in the regis- 
tration books. 

The measures discussed in this chapter, with the ex- 
ception of woman suffrage, have had to do with im- 
proving the machinery of nominating and electing can- 
didates to office. A state with a system of direct pri- 
maries, a thorough-going corrupt practices act, the 
short ballot, the Massachusetts ballot and an adequate 
registration system is reasonably certain of electing to 
office men who represent the majority of the people at 
the time they are elected. To retain control over repre- 
sentatives after they have been elected and to guard 
against the ill effects of misrepresentation, the progres- 
sive movement proposes another set of measures, com- 
monly grouped under the heading direct legislation, 
which will form the subject of discussion in the next 
chapter. 



CHAPTER XI 

MEASURES OF POST-ELECTION CONTROL .* THE INITIATIVE, 
REFERENDUM AND RECALL 

In addition to the measures already discussed which 
are intended to give to the people greater control over 
the nomination and election of officials, the progressive 
movement in the state proposes another set of measures, 
the object of which is to enable the people to continue 
their control after officials have been elected. For a 
long time reformers believed that to remove graft, cor- 
ruption, and special influence from government, it was 
only necessary to insure the election of honest candi- 
dates ; that men, honest when elected, were likely to re- 
main honest, and even if they did not, adequate punish- 
ment could be meted out by refusing them renomination 
and reelection. The practical effect of this theory has 
been that such reforms as direct primaries and corrupt 
practices acts have been given great emphasis as aids 
in electing good men; and that the terms of office of 
different officials have been made short and elections 
frequent, so that a faithless or incompetent official 
might be removed before he could do much damage. 
In short, there has been an interim between one election 
and the next during which the people have felt that 
officials and government could not be controlled save 
perhaps through the rather indefinite action of public 
opinion. 

While the people have been willing to admit their in- 

213 



214 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

ability to control government between elections, the 
agents of special interests have been quick to seize this 
as a most favorable time for gaining their own ends. 
They have organized elaborate lobbies and conducted 
systematic campaigns to win legislators to their support. 
Because the public generally is not sufficiently inter- 
ested to follow the details of legislative procedure — and, 
even if they were, would not, because of its intricacies, 
be able to do so — legislators can pretend to serve the 
people while secretly they carry out the behests of poli- 
ticians and special interests. And, even if it comes to 
the point where the young legislator is forced by pub- 
lic opinion to choose one of two masters, the induce- 
ments that are held out by corporations and other in- 
terests are often much more alluring than the uncer- 
tain prospect of renomination and reelection for a one 
or two-year term at a very meager salary. It is, there- 
fore, not uncommon for ambitious young men to "sell 
out" to those who can help them to advance; and this is 
especially easy and not clearly reprehensible in many 
cases because the bribe offered is not money, but pre- 
ferment, and the question on which the legislator's 
vote is sought is, as it is so well put, one on which men 
may honestly differ. By bribery, open or secret, by 
lobbies, by organizing committees, by sharp parlia- 
mentary practice, special influence has been able to do 
what the people confessedly could not do, namely, con- 
trol government from election to election. 

To counteract this tendency and give to the people a 
direct and adequate control over all branches of gov- 
ernment between elections, the progressive movement 
advocates the initiative, the referendum, and the recall. 
The initiative gives to the people the power to pass any 
law independently of the legislature; the referendum 
allows the people to veto any law passed by the legisla- 



THE INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL 215 

ture which the people believe is inimical to their best 
interests; while the recall makes it possible to remove 
from office representatives who are manifestly unfit to 
serve their constituencies. These three measures have 
been more widely discussed, more bitterly condemned, 
and more loyally praised than almost any other meas- 
ures connected with the whole progressive movement; 
and the attention which they have attracted has been 
largely due to the fact that they have been greatly mis- 
understood. To some it has seemed that the purpose 
of direct legislation is to substitute a pure democracy 
for representative government; and to others it has 
seemed like undue interference by the people with the 
officials elected by them to exercise the functions of gov- 
ernment. In reality it is neither. All three measures 
are based on the principle that in a democracy the con- 
trol of the people over government should be continuous 
and direct ; and to extend the power of the people over 
legislation after election is essentially similar to ex- 
tending it to primaries before election. At every point 
in government the people should be able to oppose to 
special influence and corruption an effective means of 
control. 

The initiative is a governmental device by means of 
which a certain number of voters may by petition pro- 
pose a law or a constitutional amendment and require 
that it be submitted at an election for ratification or 
rejection by the voters themselves. 

Two different uses to which the initiative may be 
put need to be carefully distinguished. In the first 
place, the initiative may be used to propose and ratify 
amendments to the constitution. In the second place, 
it may be used to propose and ratify ordinary statutes. 
Of these two uses, the first, although it ordinarily re- 
ceives less attention, is by far the more important. In 



216 THE PKOGBESSIYE MOVEMENT 

most states today, the people have deprived themselves 
of practically all means of amending the state constitu- 
tions save through appeal to the members of the legis- 
lature ; and, since many of the most urgent reforms are 
those that curtail the powers of the legislatures, it is 
hopeless to expect them to advocate constitutional 
amendments with any enthusiasm. Without the ability 
to amend the state constitutions easily, therefore, the 
initiative, the referendum, the recall, and other meas- 
ures on the progressive program become impracticable, 
because to put them into effect constitutional amend- 
ments are necessary. 

A first consideration in discussing the initiative is the 
number of people who may be permitted to call an elec- 
tion. Two methods are at present in use. In the one 
case, a fixed number of persons are required to sign the 
initiative petition. Thus the ITaine law, for example, 
requires the signatures of not less than 12,000 electors. 1 
This method is analogous to that which is widely used 
in co mm ission-governed cities in connection with the 
nomination of candidates by petitions where the law 
requires a specific number of signatures in order to 
place a candidate's name on the ballot. The second 
basis of determining the number of voters necessary to 
call an election is the percentage basis. In Oregon the 
percentage is based upon the number of votes cast for 
justice of the supreme court at the last preceding elec- 
tion; in Ohio it is based upon the "total number of 
votes cast for the office of governor at the last preced- 
ing election;" 2 in Oklahoma, "the ratio and per centum 
of legal voters . . . shall be based upon the total num- 
ber of votes cast at the last general election for the state 

1 Laws of Elaine, 1909, p. 1457, Sec. 18. 
2 Ohio Constitution, Art. II, Sec. lg. 



THE INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL 217 

office receiving the highest number of votes. . . ." 1 In 
some states, to make certain that the demand for the 
law is widespread, it is provided not only that a stated 
percentage of the voters sign the petition, but that the 
signers be distributed through a reasonably large num- 
ber of counties. Whatever the basis upon which the 
number of voters necessary to call an election is deter- 
mined, the important thing is to make the require- 
ments fair. The opponents of the initiative favor 
either an excessively high or an excessively low 
percentage, because in either case the best results 
cannot be obtained. If the percentage is too low, 
disgruntled elements of the population are encour- 
aged to call frequent elections. If, on the other hand, 
the percentage is too high, the initiative becomes almost 
useless because it requires almost complete unanimity 
of opinion to start it in motion. Experience shows that 
from five to ten per cent, is a fair percentage — one that 
gives a reasonably large demand for a law a chance to 
express itself, and one which at the same time is high 
enough to prevent the calling of too frequent elections 
on unimportant questions. 

In some cases, the percentage of voters required to 
sign petitions varies for different purposes. Thus a 
petition signed by a fairly low percentage, as three per 
cent., is made to serve as a kind of advisory initiative; 
that is, the legislature upon the receipt of the proposed 
law accompanied by the petition is required to give it 
full consideration and discussion, but is not compelled 
to pass it, nor is the secretary of state required to call 
an election at which the measure may be submitted to 
popular vote. A petition signed by a larger percentage, 
however, as, for example, six per cent., would be deemed 

1 Oklahoma Constitution, Art. V, Sec. 2. 



218 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

mandatory and an election would have to be called. 1 
Another use to which the varying size of the percentage 
of signatures is put is in determining how soon the 
election is to be held. If only five or eight per cent, of 
the voters sign, the rule in some instances is that the 
initiative election is to be put off until a regular elec- 
tion. If, on the other hand, the percentage of signa- 
tures is ten or fifteen, it is taken as an indication of 
urgency, and a special election must be called within a 
short period. In some instances, too, a larger percent- 
age of signatures is required to propose a constitu- 
tional amendment than is required for an ordinary law. 
Thus the Oklahoma constitution 2 permits eight per 
cent, of the legal voters to propose any legislative meas- 
ure, but requires fifteen per cent, to propose amend- 
ments to the constitution. Inasmuch as it is most im- 
portant that the people have an easy method of amend- 
ing the constitution, and inasmuch as no great harm can 
come from the mere consideration of amendments, it 
seems somewhat anomalous to require a much higher 
percentage to initiate constitutional amendments than 
is required for ordinary laws. If the initiation of 
amendments were made easy and a fairly large vote re- 
quired to pass them, it would seem much more reason- 
able. 

The second step in an initiative election is the filing 
of the proposed measure accompanied by the petitions 
with a designated state official, usually the secretary 
of state. The secretary of state is required to examine 
the petitions to see whether they are sufficient : and, if 
they are. to issue the call for an election. In some of 
the states this early method of filing petitions with the 
secretary of state and requiring him automatically to 

1 See Ohio provision, Ohio Constitution, Art. II, Sec. lb. 
a Art. V, Sec. 2. 



THE INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL 219 

call an election if the petitions were found sufficient 
has been changed by the later initiative laws. Under 
these laws, the measures proposed are sent to the state 
legislature and the state legislature is allowed to take 
any one of three courses: pass the measure as pro- 
posed; submit it to the people; or, finally, draft an 
alternative measure and submit that together with the 
initiative measure to the people at the initiative or 
other election. Thus, the Maine law provides that "any 
measure thus proposed by not less than 12,000 electors, 
unless enacted without change by the legislature at the 
session at which it is presented, shall be submitted to 
the electors, together with any amended form, substi- 
tute, or recommendation of the legislature and in such 
manner that the people can choose between the com- 
peting measures or reject both." 1 This latter method, 
because it gives more opportunity for discussion and 
because it assumes cooperation with, rather than an- 
tagonism against, the state legislature, is unquestion- 
ably better than the other method of submitting un- 
changed the original measure proposed. If the legisla- 
ture is favorably disposed to a measure, the people re- 
ceive the benefit of many helpful suggestions and 
amendments; if the legislature is opposed, the people 
still have the opportunity to adopt the measure in its 
first form. 

After the petitions have been signed and filed either 
with the secretary of state or with the state legislature, 
the next step is to submit the measures proposed to a 
vote of the people. The first question that arises in 
this connection is, how long a time should elapse be- 
tween the certification by the secretary of state or other 
official that the petitions are sufficient and the election ? 

1 Maine Laws of 1909, p. 1457, Sec. 18; see also Ohio Const., 
Art. II, Sec. lb. 



220 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

In answering that question, two dangers must be kept in 
mind : first, that the time may be so long that interest 
in the measure may die; and, secondly, that the time 
may be so short that mere temporary excitement may 
be sufficient to put a measure through. Enough time 
should be allowed for fullest publicity and discussion, 
and between two and six months would seem to be 
enough for that purpose. It is important not only that 
time should be allowed for discussion, but also that 
every voter should understand thoroughly the measure 
to be voted on. To make this possible some states cause 
to be mailed to every registered voter a copy of the pro- 
posed laws together with any arguments for or against 
them that may have been offered, and also a sample 
copy of the ballot, containing the text of the measures 
to be submitted. 

Finally, there remains to be considered the election 
itself. Where only one measure or one set of measures 
is submitted, the voter is merely required to vote "yes" 
or "no" on each measure. Where the legislature has 
the opportunity to submit alternative measures, the 
voter is required to indicate which of the two measures 
he prefers. In connection with the number of votes 
necessary to carry a measure, the question sometimes 
arises as to whether the number should be a majority 
of all the voters registered or voting at a preceding elec- 
tion, or merely a majority of those voting at the initia- 
tive election. Ordinarily, the latter basis is adopted. 
The question becomes one of great practical importance, 
especially where the initiative election is a special elec- 
tion and only those immediately interested, perhaps 
not more than fifteen or twenty per cent, of the voters, 
take part. In such cases a very small minority would 
be sufficient to obtain the passage of the law. To guard 
against this situation, it is sometimes provided that a 



THE INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL 221 

majority vote is sufficient to carry a measure, provided 
the total vote equals a certain percentage of the vote 
cast for some state official, as the governor. Once 
passed by the electors, measures proposed by the initia- 
tive become law without further steps. It is not neces- 
sary, as in the case of other laws, to present the meas- 
ures to the governor for his approval or veto. 

The advantages which the initiative confers in the 
way of increasing the control of the people over govern- 
ment are chiefly three. In the first place, where the 
initiative is in force, the people are not entirely depend- 
ent upon the state legislatures. In many states, no broad, 
fundamental policy which requires a constitutional 
amendment, can be adopted, even though it is favored 
by a large majority of the voters, because every thing- 
must begin with the legislature and the legislature 
refuses to take the first step. The initiative on consti- 
tutional amendments gives to the people a power that is 
most elementary in a democracy; i. e., the power to fix 
the fundamental law of the state. That the power of 
initiation in this direction has been so completely taken 
away from the people and so completely placed in the 
hands of a few temporary officials is one of the wonders 
and anomalies of our government. Much less impor- 
tant, but nevertheless of the greatest value, is the right 
of the people to propose specific laws other than amend- 
ments. The hands of all the people should not be 
bound so far as legislation is concerned, because they 
have selected a few men to enact laws. State legisla- 
tures should make the great bulk of the laws and al- 
ways will make them, whether the initiative is adopted 
or not ; but machine politicians and special interests 
should not, by winning over a few hundred legislators, 
and inducing them to do nothing, thwart the wishes of 
millions to obtain some pressing reform through legisla- 



222 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

tion. The initiative, first of all, recognizes the right of 
a majority of the people to change any law, constitu- 
tional or statutory, whenever they so desire and whether 
the legislature is willing or not. 

In the second place, the initiative gives to fairly large 
minorities the opportunity of forcing their demands 
upon the attention of the state. At present, the single 
reformer or group of reformers, even if they are elected 
to the state legislatures, are like voices crying in the 
wilderness. Without the consent of the majority in 
control they cannot even introduce their bill and obtain 
a hearing. Outside the legislature their position is 
even worse. The opportunity to bring measures before 
the people for discussion and vote, which at present is 
lacking, is supplied by the initiative in permitting a 
small group of voters interested in the adoption of a 
particular measure at least to call an election and force 
the people to ratify or reject it. Many measures, more- 
over, which are supported by small groups of progres- 
sives are taken up by the legislature, but are passed 
in a form entirely different from that in which they 
were first proposed, and are injurious rather than bene- 
ficial. Weak, anemic direct primary, corrupt practices, 
and workinginen's compensation acts are passed by a 
legislature that aims to serve God and Mammon by giv- 
ing to the people a law which they want, and at the same 
time so modifying and qualifying it as to make it practi- 
cally ineffective. Under the initiative a measure is 
among friends ; and if it is not accepted by the people at 
the polls it is because they do not approve of its princi- 
ple and not because it is defectively drawn; while if 
they do approve the law, it is more likely to be effective 
in meeting the situation for which it was intended. 

A third advantage of the initiative is that it encour- 
ages the individual to take a more active interest in 



THE INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL 223 

legislation. Under the initiative every citizen becomes 
a member of a kind of state legislature with all the du- 
ties and privileges that legislators have. He may him- 
self draft a law and, if he can find a sufficient number 
of persons interested in its enactment, bring it before 
the entire body of citizens for a vote. He is a com- 
mitteeman on occasion because he may be called upon 
by a group of voters interested in a particular measure 
to investigate the subject and make recommendations. 
He has an opportunity to study and discuss all bills 
presented by members of the larger legislature of which 
he is a member because he is supplied just as the mem- 
bers of the ordinary legislature are with copies of each 
bill and of the arguments for and against its support. 
And, finally, he has the right to cast his vote on each 
measure which is proposed. The stimulus which this 
opportunity to participate directly in the solution of 
practical political problems gives toward the study of 
government in general can scarcely be overestimated. 

The principal disadvantages that are usually charged 
against the initiative by its opponents are : first, that 
special interests, far from being removed from power, 
will become more firmly intrenched; secondly, that 
only a few people will take sufficient interest in meas- 
ures proposed to take part in elections; thirdly, that 
unscientific, inconsistent, and ridiculous laws will be 
placed upon the statute books; fourthly, that it will 
entail the expense and annoyance of frequent elections ; 
and, finally, that it will weaken the influence of the 
state legislature and therefore tend to discourage good 
men from running for office. 

The claim that the initiative will really strengthen 
special influence in politics is based upon the assump- 
tion that political machines can more readily set in 
motion initiative elections than the ordinary group of 



224 THE PBOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

reformers can; and that this ability will be used by 
them to introduce and pass measures favoring their own 
interests. It is undoubtedly true that under any initia- 
tive system politicians find no trouble in obtaining the 
signatures necessary to call an election; and, although 
the percentage of signatures required should be high 
enough to prevent the elections from becoming a nui- 
sance, there is no reason why any body of men should 
not propose any measure good or bad for public con- 
sideration. But, while it may be admitted that the po- 
litical machine encounters little difficulty in calling an 
election, it is certain that it encounters a great deal in 
attempting to carry one. Public opinion, if given suffi- 
cient time and information, can ordinarily be trusted 
to expose a bad measure ; and with every voter supplied 
with a copy of the law, and thirty or sixty days in which 
to discuss it, it would be a heavy indictment against 
democracy if most corrupt measures were not detected 
and voted down. Practical experience with the initia- 
tive, moreover, shows that confidence in the ability of 
the people to discriminate between measures is not mis- 
placed. Eaton, in his book, The Oregon System, 
gives an account of the "first trick bill tried on the 
Oregon electorate.'' The bill proposed to remove the 
toll on certain of the state roads. "Innocent enough 
looking it was, to be sure, and inviting the support of 
all citizens who were sorry for those who had to pay the 
toll. . . . But somebody discovered that if the bill 
passed, the state of Oregon would be bound to purchase 
the road for $24,000 and keep it up afterward. Graft 
was suggested, and . . . the people voted down the in- 
nocent looking bill by a majority of 13,000 . . ." * 
Practical experience, too, furnishes a reasonable 

1 Eaton, The Oregon System, pp. 27-28. Also Montague, The 
Oregon System at Work, National Municipal Review, April, 1914. 



THE INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL 225 

amount of evidence to disprove the contention that only 
a few voters are sufficiently interested in the measures 
proposed to take part in the initiative elections. In- 
formation has been collected with regard to the sixty- 
four measures passed in the State of Oregon under the 
initiative and referendum from 1904 to 1910. 1 The 
highest percentage of voters to express an opinion on 
any of these sixty-four measures was 91, 2 on the ques- 
tion of prohibiting the sale of liquor; and the lowest 
percentage was 62, on the question of authorizing col- 
lection of state and county taxes on separate classes of 
property. It need hardly be pointed out that the differ- 
ence of interest that is normally taken in these two 
topics is ample explanation of the disparity in the per- 
centages. The average per cent, of the total vote cast 
in connection with all sixty-four measures was about 
74. 

But, urge those who oppose the initiative, suppose 
the voters do take a most active interest in preparing 
and voting upon laws, the inevitable result will be the 
addition of unscientific, inconsistent, and ridiculous 
laws to the statute books. In urging this argument, men 
fail to keep in mind the fact that it would be extremely 
difficult to pass worse bills by a popular vote than are 
turned out every year by the legislature in practically 
every state. The average member of a state legislature 
to-day is below rather than above the average citizen 
of the middle class in intellect and general ability. 
The laws which these legislators turn out when they 
have plenty of time for deliberation and are actuated by 
the most honest motives are not models in law-making; 
while those passed hastily and corruptly are almost un- 
intelligible. As to the statement that the people are in- 

1 Ibid., pp. 18-24. 

2 Ninety-one per cent, of the total votes cast at that election. 



226 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

consistent in their legislation, the danger is more ap- 
parent than real. A favorite instance of inconsistent 
legislation under the initiative is frequently cited in 
connection with laws proposed in Oregon to regulate the 
salmon industry in that state. ''Two laws prohibiting 
fishing for salmon, etc.. were both passed: one was 
known as the k T7p Eiver Bill/ the other as the "Down 
River Bill." The effect of the passage of both laws was 
to prohibit the taking of salmon at all, although such 
was not the intention of the proposers. Each only 
wanted to restrain its rivals. TThile on its face it would 
indicate that the vote cast is evidence of the confusion 
that may result from the use of the initiative ; yet. if 
the subject were understood as we understand it here, 
the result is not surprising." 1 In explaining this 
seeming inconsistency, the Oregon Conservation Com- 
mission said : 

" There is some antagonism among the operators 
of any kind of gear against any other. Between 
the gill-netters of the lower and the wheelmen of 
the upper river, this rises to open hostility. Op- 
posing delegations have met before the legislature 
for many years and each party has succeeded in 
blocking legislation proposed by the other. At 
last election . . . each party had its bill, proposed 
under the initiative, each legislating the other's 
method of destruction and preserving its own. The 
electors, in an excess of disgust, tinged with sar- 
donic humor, passed both bills by different but 
decisive majorities . . ." 2 

Although it is doubtless true, therefore, that there is 
and will continue to be much unscientific, inconsistent, 

1 Munro, The Initiative, Referendum, and 'Recall, pp. 226 et seq. 
9 Ibid., p. 227. 



227 

and perhaps ridiculous legislation passed under the 
initiative, the amount is not nearly so great as the op- 
ponents of the initiative would have us believe, nor is 
the character or amount of such legislation likely to be 
much worse than it frequently is at present. 

The ground for the fourth objection commonly raised 
against the initiative ; i. e., that it is apt to entail great 
expense and annoyance because of the frequency with 
which elections are called, can easily be removed. In 
the first place, if experience shows that elections are 
too easily called when a certain percentage is required, 
the percentage can be raised to a point where only those 
measures that are seriously advocated will be proposed. 
In the second place, wherever possible and when the 
urgency of the question does not require otherwise, the 
measures proposed by the initiative can be passed upon 
by the people at regular elections. And, finally, if 
these two devices prove inadequate, the frequency of 
elections can be definitely limited by statute. This last 
means is most useful in preventing a small body of 
enthusiasts from bringing up again and again some 
measure in which they alone are interested. To pre- 
vent this, a provision may be inserted in the law, simi- 
lar to that found in most general statutes that allow 
cities to adopt the commission form of government, that 
the same measure may not be brought before the people 
more than once within a given period. 

A final objection to the initiative is that it weakens 
the authority of the legislature and therefore tends to 
discourage the best men from running for office. This 
objection would have more point if the best men were 
running for and being elected to the state legislatures 
under the present system ; but, as it is, the character of 
most of our state legislatures is conspicuously low. 
One of the chief reasons, moreover, why good men are 



228 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

reluctant to rim now is because they feel that state 
legislatures are controlled by politicians in behalf of 
special interests and that a legislator, to succeed, must 
become a mere puppet. To the extent that the initia- 
tive breaks down the present secret control and makes 
the legislature responsible to the voters rather than to 
politicians, it makes it easier for better men to enter 
politics and thus indirectly raises the tone of the state 
legislatures. So far as the argument that the initiative 
lowers the character of state legislatures depends upon 
the assumption that most of the legislature's power is 
transferred to the people is concerned, it is based upon a 
total misconception of the entire process. The progres- 
sive movement does not advocate the abolition of state 
legislatures nor does it desire to see the people set them- 
selves up as a rival law-making body. On the con- 
trary, the progressive movement would prefer to have 
the legislatures do all the lawmaking themselves and 
believes that in any case there is a certain amount and 
kind of legislation that cannot be effectively done any- 
where but in the legislative halls. But it refuses to 
close its eyes to a situation that actually exists and to 
sanction the exploitation of government through a few 
faithless representatives under the domination of spe- 
cial interests. 

The referendum, the second of the measures that 
together make up what is known as direct legislation, 
is a negative rather than a positive measure and is used 
for a purpose directly opposite to that for which the 
initiative is used. For while the initiative is invoked 
to enable the people to pass a law which they want, but 
which the legislature is unwilling to pass, the referen- 
dum is invoked to keep the legislature from passing a 
law which the legislature wants but which the people 
are unwilling to have. The referendum, therefore, may 



THE INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL 229 

be defined as a governmental device by means of which 
a certain number of voters may by petition call an elec- 
tion at which there are presented for ratification or re- 
jection certain specified laws or resolutions passed by 
the legislature. Like the initiative, the referendum is 
used both in the case of ordinary legislation and in the 
case of constitutional amendments. Strangely enough, 
while there is violent objection to the initiation of 
amendments by the people, the practice of submitting 
amendments to them for their approval or rejection is 
as old as the state governments themselves. In practi- 
cally every state, while the legislature or a constitu- 
tional convention has the right to propose amendments, 
they do not go into effect until ratified by the people at 
the polls. Because of this familiarity with the process 
of the referendum on constitutional amendments, there 
is less objection to it in connection with ordinary legis- 
lation than there is to the newer process of the initia- 
tive; and in the constitution of New Mexico, one of 
the more recent and reactionary state constitutions, no 
provision is made for the initiative at all, although the 
referendum is adopted. There is, however, still ob- 
jection to the referendum in some quarters among those 
who fail to realize the inconsistency of giving the peo- 
ple the right to pass upon the fundamental law of the 
state and refusing to allow them to check wasteful and 
corrupt legislation. 

The operation of the referendum, like that of the 
initiative, is very simple. In states that have adopted 
it, no law passed by the legislature except emergency 
laws affecting the life or health of citizens, goes into 
effect until a certain number of days, thirty or sixty or 
more as the case may be, have elapsed after its passage. 
During this period, a certain number of voters or a cer- 
tain percentage of those voting for a designated official 



230 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

at the last preceding election may file a petition with the 
secretary of state, specifying the law or laws passed by 
the legislature to which objection is made and asking 
that an election be held at which the voters generally 
may ratify or reject the legislature's action. The secre- 
tary of state is then required to call such an election 
to be held within a given time after the petitions have 
been filed: and between the filing of petitions and the 
election he is. in some states, required to distribute to 
the voters copies of the law or laws upon which the vote 
is to be taken. 

The details of the steps that are taken in connection 
with referendum elections are, with one or two varia- 
tions, practically the same as those taken in connection 
with the initiative. The number of persons, as in the 
case of the initiative, is specifically stated or is a cer- 
tain percentage of those voting for a designated official 
at the preceding election. Usually, however, the speci- 
fied number, as well as the percentage, is higher in the 
case of the initiative than in the case of the referen- 
dum. Thus in the Elaine law only 10,000 signatures 
are needed on a referendum petition, while initiative 
petitions require 12,000 : and in Oregon, where the 
percentage rule obtains. fLYe per cent, suffices for the 
referendum, while the initiative needs eight. After the 
petitions have been filed and verified, an election is 
called to be held at a stated period after the call is is- 
sued. This period is usually the same in both initiative 
and referendum elections. If at the election a majority 
of those voting, vote against the law. it does not go into 
effect : if they approve, the law goes into effect a certain 
number of days after the date of the approval. Host 
statutes, moreover, provide that the veto power of the 
governor shall not extend to measures referred to the 
people. 



THE INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL 231 

The advantages that can be claimed for the refer- 
endum are chiefly those that flow from the power of 
the people to check undesirable legislation. In many 
cases, it is unnecessary to use this power at all, since 
the mere fact that the people possess it and can use it 
removes many of the causes for invoking it. With the 
referendum in operation, men are not so much inclined 
to seek public office because of the opportunities for 
graft and corruption that are offered to them, since 
their ability to grant privileges and favors is always 
subject to popular control. Nor are the agents of 
special interests willing to offer bribes and other in- 
ducements so freely where there is no certainty that 
the recipients will be able to deliver. Politicians lose 
in prestige and authority because they can neither make 
nor keep promises with assurance. Over acts of cor- 
ruption the referendum stands as an effective veto. 
The direct results of this are : first, to force out of the 
legislatures the men whose only interest there is to feed 
from the flesh pots of corruption; and, second, to en- 
courage men to run for office who are actuated by ideals 
of service. 

If the prospect of the referendum does not succeed 
in preventing corrupt legislation, the referendum itself 
can be used to check vicious and wasteful laws after 
they have passed the legislature. In addition to pre- 
venting the adoption generally of all bad laws, the ref- 
erendum is especially useful in controlling legislation 
that appropriates public funds and that grants special 
privileges, such as franchises and the right of eminent 
domain. Legislators are willing and even eager to 
give valuable rights and to make extravagant appro- 
priations of the public's money for all kinds of pro- 
jects, especially if they are properly persuaded by those 
in whose interest the grants are made. Land grants, 



232 THE PEOGKESSITE MOVEMENT 

franchises, water power, forest reserve, and mineral 
land steals have been almost every-day occurrences in 
state and nation. In most cases, these grants pass 
through the legislatures unnoticed. Occasionally, it is 
true, protest is made; but even then little can be done 
to get at the real truth of the matter and settle it equita- 
bly. The referendum gives to the people an opportunity 
to scrutinize closely every grant of money, franchise, or 
natural resources and to stop those that are clearly 
unwarranted. 

The principal objection raised against the referen- 
dum is one that has already been fully considered in 
connection with the initiative; i. e., that it would de- 
prive the legislatures of so many of their important 
duties and responsibilities that able men would be un- 
willing to run. Here, again, the objection is based upon 
two fundamentally wrong assumptions : first, that men 
in office now are men of high ability and character; 
and, second, that the referendum will be used in so many 
cases that the people will become the real legislature. 
As was pointed out in discussing this objection in con- 
nection with the initiative, by purifying the political 
atmosphere of our legislative halls, good men will be 
encouraged rather than discouraged to seek them. As 
to encroachment by the people upon the province of 
the legislature, the people will probably use the refer- 
endum only when it is necessary to protect their own 
interests. If the legislators are living up to their re- 
sponsibilities and are passing laws of the right kind, 
there is little likelihood that the people will interfere. 
It is only the legislators of low standards of duty and 
service at which the measure is aimed. 

In addition to the initiative and referendum, which 
give to the voters control over legislation, the progres- 
sive movement advocates a third measure, the recall, 



THE INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL 233 

to give the same effective control over men. In a sense, 
the recall is complementary to the initiative and refer- 
endum in that it rounds out and completes popular con- 
trol over all branches of state government. To many 
states the added power given by the recall seems un- 
necessary, the ability of the voters to regulate the acts 
of public officials being considered sufficient without 
removing the officials themselves. Consequently, while 
the initiative and referendum have been adopted in 
seventeen states, 1 the state-wide recall has been adopted 
in eight 2 only. And in those few states, too, where the 
recall has been adopted, it is used so seldom that prac- 
tical experience seems to confirm the theory that with 
an effective initiative and referendum law in operation 
the necessity for removing officials is very slight. An 
added reason why the recall is not so popular as the 
other two measures is the fact that it is new and radical. 
The referendum, with the principle of which practi- 
cally all the states are familiar, finds an easy accept- 
ance; and several states have a referendum provision 
that have neither the initiative nor the recall. The ini- 
tiative comes second in popularity because it is some- 
what akin to the referendum in principle; while the 
recall, which seems without precedent, is accepted with 
the greatest reluctance. 

The fundamental theory of the recall, far from being 
either revolutionary or strange, is quite simple and fa- 
miliar. It is not essentially a process of summarily 
discharging officials from office, although of course it 
does accomplish that result. It is rather a method by 

1 Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Massa- 
chusetts (referendum only), Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Ne- 
braska, Nevada, New Mexico (referendum only), Ohio, Oklahoma, 
Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, and Washington. 

8 Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Nevada, Ore- 
gon, and Washington. 



234 THE PROGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

which the people may call elections before the stated 
time and thus regulate the term of office of officials. 
Instead of definitely fixing an office-holder's term at two 
years or four years, the voters reserve the right to 
bring it to a close at any time. An official, therefore, 
who goes out of office at a recall election is no more 
open to the charge of dishonesty or inefficiency nor sub- 
ject to disgrace than officials who go out of office at the 
expiration of stated terms. The recall system here is 
comparable to the system of electing members to the 
English Parliament. The stated term is seven years; 
but, if public opinion is manifestly opposed to the pol- 
icy and methods of those in office, an election is called 
before the end of seven years to determine whether the 
members are to continue or give place to others. Simi- 
larly, in the Boston city charter there is a provision 
which illustrates the essential purpose of the recall. 
The mayor of Boston is elected for a term of four years ; 
but every second year at a general state and national 
election the voters are asked whether a special mu- 
nicipal election shall be held in that year. If a major- 
ity vote in favor of holding the election, the mayor's 
term is thereby shortened from four to two years and he 
must stand for reelection or retire. The popular con- 
ception of the recall, therefore, as a means of dismiss- 
ing men from office and the assumption that it is radi- 
cally different from the present method of election are 
incorrect and misleading. 

The real nature of the recall is seen in its methods 
of operation, which are in many respects similar to 
those of the initiative and referendum. If a certain 
percentage of the voters by petition request a special 
recall election, such an election is called by the secre- 
tary of state or other official with whom the petitions 
are filed. Usually the percentage required to initiate 



THE INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL 235 

such an election is much higher than in the case of the 
initiative and referendum: in most states it is twenty- 
five per cent, of those voting at the last regular election 
for governor or other state officer, while in Illinois, in 
commission cities, it is fifty-five per cent. Between the 
filing of petitions and the election, pamphlets are cir- 
culated, in which are contained arguments for and 
against the officeholder against whom the recall is di- 
rected. At the election, the voters do not vote on the 
question of discharging the present incumbent from 
office, but vote precisely as they would at an ordinary 
election. The officeholder, unless he expressly declines, 
is made a candidate to succeed himself, the names of 
other candidates appear on the ballots as in any other 
election, and the candidate receiving the largest number 
of votes is declared elected. 

There are in operation at present what may be re- 
garded as five different kinds of recall: the recall of 
judicial decisions that declare a law unconstitutional; 
the recall of judges; the recall of appointive officials; 
the recall of elective officials ; and, finally, the advisory 
recall of federal judges and United States senators. The 
recall of judicial decisions, which takes its name from 
the recall of judges and which was proposed by Ex-Pres- 
ident Eoosevelt as a kind of substitute for the more 
radical measure is, in reality, not a recall at all, but 
merely a modified referendum. It proposes to allow 
the people to pass on all judicial decisions involving the 
constitution in the same way in which they pass upon 
legislative acts and constitutional amendments. Every 
decision declaring a law unconstitutional is submitted 
to the people for ratification or rejection. With this 
measure in operation, 1 its supporters claim that the re- 
call of the judges themselves becomes unnecessary. In 

1 Thus far Colorado is the only state that has adopted it. 



236 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

the first place, it is the decision and not the judge that 
counts, and to remove the judge or judges who handed 
down the decision, while the decision itself is allowed to 
stand, is wasted labor. In the second place, even if the 
judge who made the objectionable decision were removed 
and another elected in his place for the specific purpose 
of chanoino 1 the decision, such reversals of opinion bv 
the court would tend to make the law unsettled and un- 
certain. 1 

The objections that may be raised to the recall — or 
more properly the referendum — of judicial decisions 
are essentially the same as those raised to the ordinary 
referendum and need not be discussed again. It is in- 
teresting to note, however, that, while no one objects to 
allowing the voters to pass finally on constitutional 
amendments initiated by the legislature, strong objec- 
tion is made to the proposal that they pass on consti- 
tutional amendments made just as effectively, if not as 
definitely, by the supreme courts of the different states. 
The direct advantage derived from the power to recall 
judicial decisions that declare laws unconstitutional 
is that it completes the control of the people over the 
fundamental law of the states. A court, at present, by 
a single decision, can block progress for years, espe- 
cially when to overcome that decision a constitutional 
amendment is necessary and the legislature must be de- 
pended upon to start the amendment. One way, in fact, 
that is used by the opponents of reform is to pass a 
reform measure in such shape that the courts feel con- 
strained to declare it unconstitutional and thereby 
necessitate a constitutional amendment and postpone 
the adoption of the reform for years. Two decisions, 
one in Xew York State and one in the United States, 

1 For an interesting development of the whole subject, see Ran- 
som, Majority 'Rule and the Judiciary. 



THE INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL 237 

show how important the power of the highest courts in 
connection with reform legislation is. In the first of 
these cases/ the question was as to the constitutionality 
of a workingmen's compensation act passed by the New 
York State legislature giving to injured workingmen 
the^ right to collect damages from employers whether 
their injuries were due to their own negligence, the 
negligence of the employer, or the inherent risks of the 
work. The Court of Appeals in New York declared the 
act unconstitutional in that it deprived employers of 
property without due process of law. The second case 
involved the question as to the power of New York 
State to limit the number of hours a baker might work 
to sixty hours a week or ten hours a day. The United 
States Supreme Court 2 held that to deprive a working- 
man of the right to labor in a bake-shop as many hours 
as he chose was an undue interference with his liberty ; 
and, although the statute was passed to protect the 
baker from protracted work under insanitary condi- 
tions, the effort was defeated through the greater zeal- 
ousness of the Supreme Court to safeguard his welfare. 
It is on such decisions as these that the voters should be 
allowed to pass. 

Not content with recalling their decisions, some sup- 
porters of the progressive movement ask that the judges 
themselves be subject to recall. Although it is doubt- 
less true that the need of recalling the judges them- 
selves is greatly diminished by providing for the recall 
of their decisions, it is nevertheless true that a large 
need for definite control over the judges themselves still 
exists. Theoretically, it is anomalous to give to any 
body of officials the enormous power given to judges 
under our system of government and not subject them 

1 Ives v. So. Buffalo Railway Co., 201 N. Y. 271. 
'Lochner v. New York, 198 U. S. 45. 



238 ™ E PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

to any effective control. In England, where there is no 
written constitution, the legislature controls the judges. 
The judges simply interpret the law as it is passed with- 
out touching on the right of Parliament to pass it. Here 
the judiciary frequently reverses the process and con- 
trols the legislature. It indicates the limits of the legis- 
lature's power and declares void any law that exceeds 
that power. Practically, moreover, it is unwise not to 
subject judges in this country to some kind of check or 
control. Most judges, before they are appointed or 
elected to the bench, receive their training in the em- 
ploy of corporations. Corporations do the greater share 
of the business of the country, offer the largest retainers 
and give to the young lawyer the best chance to rise in 
his profession. While there is nothing inherently repre- 
hensible in this situation, its tendency to bias the minds 
of judges in favor of corporations and property inter- 
ests as against individuals and human interests is cer- 
tain to be felt. Moreover, judges who are serving a 
limited term and who cannot be certain of renomina- 
tion and reelection look forward to employment by cor- 
porations after they have retired from the bench. Here, 
again, their experience on the bench is most valuable 
and their services are most highly paid. Accordingly, 
it is the common practice for judges to step from the 
courtroom to the office of the great corporations, and the 
more important the judgeship the greater the demand. 
Ordinary prudence, therefore, on the part of judges, 
causes them while in office not to be conspicuous in their 
opposition to the rights and privileges of corporations. 
Between training before going on the bench and pro- 
spective employment after leaving it, there is apt to be a 
bias in the minds of judges, which, although it may 
not be patently dishonest, is nevertheless very real. To 
counteract this bias, to oppose to the influence of spe- 



THE INITIATIVE, BEFEEENDUM AND EECALL 239 

cial interests a strong public opinion, ready and able 
to act quickly and effectively, the progressive movement 
urges the recall. 

There is one objection to the recall as applied to 
judges in addition to those made against direct legisla- 
tion that deserves special consideration because it is 
so commonly raised and yet is so thoroughly unsound. 
The objection is that people ought not to be allowed to 
recall judges because they cannot pass intelligently upon 
their ability or their decisions. A complete answer to 
this objection is found in two facts : first, that a recall 
election of judges requires no greater capacity for dis- 
crimination by the people than an ordinary election of 
judges, and that, if the people are competent to select 
judges on one occasion, they are on another; second, 
that, in about three-fourths of the states, judges are now 
elected by popular vote. Those who insist upon this 
objection, therefore, must either adopt the inconsistent 
and illogical position that the people can elect capable 
judges at one election, and not at another ; or they must 
advocate the abolition of the elective system entirely 
and substitute for it a system of appointment. 

The third form of the recall, the recall of elective offi- 
cials other than judges, is the form commonly referred 
to when the term recall is used. Although this form of 
the recall has not been so violently opposed as the two 
already discussed, several important objections have 
been raised against it. It is contended, in the first 
place, that it will be used for personal or partisan pur- 
poses. So far as use for personal purposes is concerned, 
a reasonably high percentage and wide publicity seem 
to furnish sufficient safeguards. No mere clique can 
muster the twenty-five per cent, of the voters necessary 
to call an election; and, if they did, a three or four 
months' campaign would reveal their motives in calling 



240 THE PROGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

it. As to the use of the recall for partisan purposes, 
there is no objection to that so long as it does not un- 
duly interfere with government or put too heavy a bur- 
den upon the electors. If the party of any officeholder 
ceases to be in the majority, there is no good reason why 
the opposing party, if it is in the majority, should not 
substitute its representative in his stead. If the number 
of recall elections is limited and no officeholder is sub- 
jected to recall more than once, the use of the recall 
can work no great hardship. It simply means that the 
majority is constantly in control. A second objection 
that seems to have more weight against the recall than 
against the initiative or referendum is the objection 
that capable men will not run for office if they are un- 
able to exercise some independence and if their tenure 
of office is made subject to the passing whims and moods 
of the people. In answering this objection, it may be 
repeated that officials are not altogether independent 
now; that in many cases they are the servants of the 
boss who nominated them or of the corporations who 
supplied the funds to win their election. But, assuming 
that this is not so, and that officials are really independ- 
ent now, the recall does not make them less so. Most 
voters do not object to independence in office, provided 
the independence is used for, rather than against, their 
interests. The recall is designed not to make men in 
office less independent, but to remove the dependent. 
The average voter does not wish to administer or inter- 
fere with the details of any office unless it becomes 
necessary to do so to protect his own interests. So long, 
therefore, as a man is fearless and honest, the recall does 
not need to be invoked and usually is not. It is against 
weaklings and not against strong men that it is aimed. 
But, to carry the argument still farther and to suppose 
that the recall did make officials dependent upon public 



THE INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL 241 

opinion, there is no inherent objection to that, provided 
public opinion is properly and adequately expressed. 
Independence in political office is a fetish so blindly 
worshiped by many that its true meaning is not clearly 
perceived. If a governor or legislator were absolutely 
independent, he would do just as he pleased. Such a 
situation would be intolerable. Every man in office is 
prompted by some more or less definite motives, and 
independence is often made to serve as a cloak for cor- 
rupt or selfish practices. Officials are elected to repre- 
sent and serve public interests ; they must be dependent 
to that extent; and, when they cease to serve those in- 
terests or fail to convince their constituencies that they 
serve those interests, the recall provides the means of 
removing them and substituting others in their stead. 

In practice, in the states that have adopted it, the re- 
call is seldom used and serves more as a threat than 
anything else. It has been invoked several times in 
cities to remove officials who were manifestly corrupt 
and dishonest, but in no case has there been obvious un- 
fairness. While to some this seeming uselessness of the 
recall is an objection to it, to its supporters it is one of 
the chief arguments in its favor. Instead of electing of- 
ficials for short terms — so short that they have scarcely 
mastered the routine of their departments when they 
must retire — the recall makes it possible and safe to 
lengthen the terms, since satisfactory men may be re- 
tained and unsatisfactory men removed at any time. 
Not only can the term of office be increased, but the au- 
thority given to officials may be greatly enlarged with- 
out fear of any long-continued abuse of power. In the 
absence of adequate means of control the states have 
stripped legislators and other officials of as much power 
as possible. This fact, combined with the fact that to 
become a candidate for office it has been necessary to 



242 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

stoop to practices which self-respecting men find hard 
to tolerate, has kept many competent independent men 
from office. With the recall in operation as a safeguard, 
therefore, officials can he offered complete power over 
a long term of years conditioned only upon its use in the 
public interest. 

A fourth type of the recall is the recall of appointive 
officials. Fundamentally, this application of the recall 
is unsound, and is seldom made. All officials should be 
held responsible to those to whom they owe their posi- 
tions and not to third persons. To allow the people to 
remove the secretary of state where that officer is ap- 
pointed by the governor demoralizes the government. 
There is, moreover, a practical objection which is even 
more serious than any theoretical ones. If, when an 
appointive official is removed, another is elected in his 
place, the position obviously ceases to be appointive and 
becomes elective. If, on the other hand, the appointive 
officer is removed and no one is elected to succeed him, 
not only is the essential character of the recall as an 
election lost sight of, but the anomalous situation of one 
authority filling a position and another emptying it, is 
created. In watching officials, as in electing them, the 
fewer there are the better. If a few men are given ab- 
solute power of appointment and are held strictly ac- 
countable for the acts of those whom they choose, the 
problem of obtaining efficient appointees will be satis- 
factorily solved. 

The fifth and final form of the recall is an ingenious 
development in the state of Arizona known as the ad- 
visory recall and used to control federal judges and 
United States senators. Having no power to control 
federal judges directly, the voters control them indi- 
rectly by pledging them to resign if the voters in the 
district from which they are appointed request it at a 



243 

recall election. United States senators whose consent 
is necessary to the appointment of judges are pledged 
to refuse to confirm the nomination of any prospective 
judge who declines to agree to withdraw when the peo- 
ple wish it. The same general plan is used in connec- 
tion with the United States senators. Candidates for 
senator are pledged to resign if after they are elected 
the people of the state demand their resignation. Al- 
though there is nothing legally binding about these de- 
vices, they nevertheless serve to arouse and direct pub- 
lic opinion and make it almost impossible for a judge 
or senator to remain in office after the people have 
shown that he no longer represents them. 

In concluding this chapter on the measures of control 
in the state, it may be pointed out that the difference 
between those who favor direct primaries, the initiative, 
the referendum, and the recall and those who oppose 
them is at bottom a difference of confidence in the abil- 
ity of the people to govern. Every objection raised 
against these measures can be traced to a distrust of 
popular government and a conviction that the best gov- 
ernment can be had only when the people elect repre- 
sentatives to do all the governing for them. On the 
other hand, those who favor these measures do so 
through a belief in the wisdom of the people and in 
their ability, not to administer all the technical details 
of government, but to maintain a general unbroken and 
sure control over its operations. It is not a question of 
representative government against a pure democracy 
as has been so often wrongly assumed ; it is a question 
of the control of representative government in the inter- 
ests of all the people and not for the benefit of the few. 



CHAPTER XII 

MEASURES TO PREVENT AND RELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECO- 
NOMIC DISTRESS 

After the several states have prepared the way by 
giving to the people direct and continuous control over 
all the branches of government, they are ready to direct 
their attention more profitably to the problems con- 
nected with the prevention and relief of social and eco- 
nomic distress. Because they are not so strictly lim- 
ited by their constitutions, because they can more easily 
amend their constitutions when they are limited, be- 
cause of the liberal interpretation of the so-called po- 
lice power, states are able to grapple with modern so- 
cial and economic problems much more effectively than 
the federal government can. In spite of the fact that 
the social phase of the progressive movement in the 
state is by far the most important — as much more im- 
portant than the other phases as the end is more im- 
portant than the means — there is some danger that the 
emphasis placed upon such preliminary measures as 
the initiative, referendum, recall, direct primaries and 
others will cause the importance of these more vital 
measures of social relief to be somewhat obscured. Euro- 
pean countries, where protection against graft and cor- 
ruption is not so greatly needed, have been far in ad- 
vance of the United States and of the individual states 
in social legislation, because much of the energy of po- 
litical reformers here has been directed toward the 

244 



TO RELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS 245 



restoration of government to popular control. It is to 
the progressive movement that credit is due for show- 
ing the true significance of remedial legislation and 
for making of it a clear-cut political issue. 

In taking up the work of preventing by legislation 
suffering and distress — and here as everywhere preven- 
tion is worth infinitely more than relief — one of the 
most important problems which the several states must 
face is that of child labor. The magnitude of the prob- 
lem is indicated by the fact that there are at present 
nearly two million children between ten and fifteen 
years of age employed in gainful occupations and that 
the number both actually and in proportion to the total 
number of children is steadily increasing. Although 
the census figures for 1910 on this subject are not yet 
available, an estimate based upon the figures for 1900 
indicates that of the two million children at work 
nearly a million and a half are under fourteen years of 
age. 1 These millions are not found in any state or sec- 

1 Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Special Report- 
Occupations, p. cxlvii. 

Number of children, 10 to 15 years of age, engaged in gainful 
occupations, compared with total number of children of the same 
age, for both sexes and for each sex separately, 1880 and 1900. 





and Census Years 


Children 10 to 15 Years of Age 


Sex 


Total 


Engaged in Gainful 
Occupations 




Number 


Per cent. 




1900 


9,613,252 
4,852,*27 
4,760,825 

6,649,483 
3,376,114 
3,273,369 


1,750,178 
1,264,411 

485,767 

1,118,356 
825,187 
293,169 


18.2 




26.1 




10.2 




1880 


16.8 


Males 


24.4 


Females 


9.0 







246 THE PKOGKESSIYE MOVEMENT 

tion of the country nor in any single industry. In 
the shrimp canneries of Maryland, in the mills of Ala- 
bama, in the quarries of Vermont, in the mines of Ken- 
tucky, in the factories of Illinois, and on the farms of 
Washington and California, im mature children are 
bearing the burdens of life and labor. 

The causes for the present prevalence of child la- 
bor and its constant increase are not far to seek. They 
are chiefly two : an unusual need and an unusual op- 
portunity ; need of the parents for the addition to the 
slender family income which the children by working 
can make; opportunity to obtain employment because 
of the great variety of ways in which children can be 
used in industrial, agricultural, and commercial life. 
The average wage of 3,297,819 wage-earners included 
in an investigation, the results of which were published 
by the Census Bureau in 1908, was $10.06 a week: for 
the men $11.16, for the women $6.17, and for the chil- 
dren $3.46. 1 Assuming that the average family is 
made up of father, mother, and three children and that 
the father and the mother are both working, on the 
basis of these averages, the three children by working 
could increase the family income by more than half. 
The temptations of parents to avail themselves of the 
aid which their children can give becomes almost irre- 
sistible under modern conditions. Xot only do chil- 
dren who do not work fail to add anything to the slen- 
der family income, but they actually take substantially 
from it. If they attend school, clothing and food must 
be provided, and incidental expenses must be met. The 
prospect of double gain : the relief of having no longer 
to supply the children with necessaries, and the money 
added to the family fund after the children have paid 

1 Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census, 
Bulletin 93. Earnings of Wage-earners, p. 11. 



TO RELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS 247 

f 

for necessaries out of their own earnings, is a strong in- 
ducement to stop a child's education and send him to 
work. Then, too, the development of modern industry 
has had a most potent effect in increasing child labor. 
In the first place, it has created thousands of positions 
which children can readily fill. In performing the sim- 
pler operations of machinery in factories, in canning 
shrimps, picking cotton, or making artificial flowers, the 
child of twelve or fourteen can be as useful as the adult. 
In the second place, the opportunity to make great sav- 
ings in the cost of production by obtaining the same 
work at from half to one-third the price usually paid to 
adults and thus making it possible for him to compete 
successfully with his rival has prompted the unscrupu- 
lous mill, mine, or factory owner to use children wher- 
ever possible. And so between the demands of parents 
to receive money and the willingness of employers to 
offer it, an increasingly large number of children are 
taken from school and home and placed in the work- 
shop and factory. 

The effect of child labor upon the children them- 
selves — the arrested physical development, the suscepti- 
bility to disease and accident because of fatigue and 
lack of proper exercise; the stunted intellect causing 
the children to become unable and even unwilling to 
learn; the warped moral nature nurturing in the child 
a spirit of brooding hatred and distrust of society ; pre- 
mature sickness and death — all these are serious 
enough; but it is on broader ground than this that the 
progressive movement bases its opposition to child la- 
bor. The tendency in government to-day is to give to 
the people more responsibilities and powers and a 
greater participation in the solution of political prob- 
lems, to establish, in a word, a broader democracy. 
The success of this effort to give the people a larger 



248 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

part in government will depend npon the intelligence, 
good sense, and character of the people themselves. And 
snrely no people, a large percentage of whom in their 
childhood were compelled to work twelve or fourteen 
hours a day in factory, workshop or mill, who come to 
manhood with dwarfed bodies, feeble minds, and weak 
wills, can effectively assume the burdens of a demo- 
cratic government. The surest support of a democracy, 
moreover, is a well-ordered system of compulsory public 
education ; and child labor and such a system of educa- 
tion are irreconcilable. Every child that goes to work 
is a loss to education ; and, conversely, every child that 
remains in school is lost to labor. 

Practically every state in the union has realized the 
importance of controlling child labor and has passed 
more or less satisfactory laws on the subject. In addi- 
tion to the fact that parents and employers both insist 
that child labor is necessary, the reluctance of one state 
to pass more stringent laws than another lest capital be 
driven from it makes it difficult to obtain adequate 
legislation in many of the states. It is doubtless true 
that mill owners find the cost of production less where 
child labor may be employed and that in some cases 
owners have sought the state where the laws were most 
lax as the best place in which to invest. To remove this 
difficulty arising from the diversity of state laws, the 
National Child Labor Committee, organized in 1904 to 
study the entire question of child labor, has had drafted 
a model law to be adopted by all the states. The law is 
based upon a study of the provisions of the more ad- 
vanced statutes already in force and would do much 
to remove the worst evils of the child labor problem if 
it were adopted by all the states. 

A first consideration in the attempt to regulate child 
labor has to do with fixing the ages under which chil- 



TO BELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS 249 

dren may not engage in different occupations. These 
ages are fixed for various purposes at twelve, fourteen, 
sixteen, eighteen, and twenty-one. Boys of twelve are 
permitted in many states to work at street trades, such 
as' selling newspapers and blacking boots; provided, 
usually, that they do not work during school hours. 
Fourteen is the age limit fixed in the case of the simpler 
and less fatiguing duties in mills, factories, and work- 
shops. Where the work is more dangerous, either be- 
cause there is liability to bodily injury or exposure to 
occupational diseases, as in adjusting belts to machin- 
ery or manufacturing dyes or paints, the laws require 
that children be at least sixteen. In the case of labor 
requiring more endurance and skill, such as running an 
elevator or trolley car and working on docks and 
wharves, eighteen years is the minimum age. Finally, 
where there is danger of moral corruption, as in bar- 
rooms or other places where intoxicating liquors are 
sold and in night messenger service, which is perhaps 
the most blighting morally of all the forms of child 
labor, progressive states place the age limit at twenty- 
one years. 

A second consideration in connection with child la- 
bor legislation has to do with the questions how long 
and when children should be permitted to work. Eight, 
and in some cases six, hours a day are fixed as the maxi- 
mum and one day's rest in seven is required. In the 
case of girls under twenty-one, where they are com- 
pelled to stand continuously, the hours of labor are 
made shorter than under ordinary conditions. The. 
hours during which child labor is entirely prohibited in 
some states are from nine at night to six in the morn- 
ing. Another limitation frequently occurs in connec- 
tion with street trades where boys in attendance upon 
school are allowed to work only outside of school hours 



250 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

and are required to obtain permits and badges so that 
they may be readily identified. 

Having established ages under which children are 
prohibited from working, the next duty of the state is 
to limit the hours of labor in the case of those chil- 
dren not included within the prohibition. In fixing the 
maximum number of hours of labor for children, four 
factors must be taken into consideration : first, the age 
of the child ; second, the sex ; third, the character of the 
employment; and, finally, the time of day when the 
work is to be performed. Theoretically, it would seem 
that the younger the child the lower the maximum 
number of hours that he should be permitted to work 
ought to be ; and in some states this principle has been 
followed. But, unfortunately, in many of the states 
no such distinction has been made. The highest maxi- 
mum in any state is sixty hours a week and is applied 
in many states to children under fourteen. The lowest 
is forty-eight and is applied in every instance to chil- 
dren under sixteen. 1 Sex as a factor in fixing the maxi- 
mum operates in several instances to raise the age limit 
within which employees may be worked the maximum 
number of hours. Thus some states that permit boys 
under sixteen to work sixty hours a week require that 
girls attain the age of eighteen before they are allowed 
to do the same work. In employments, too, where 
women are compelled constantly to stand, the consecu- 
tive hours of labor are sometimes reduced. Finally, 
girls are frequently limited in the number of hours 
during which they may work at night. The character 
of the employment is a third factor that should help to 
determine the hours of child labor. In the less haz- 
ardous industries, in agricultural and domestic occu- 

*See Legislative Review, No. 5. American Association for La- 
bor Legislation. 



TO RELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS 251 

pations, children may safely be permitted to work lon- 
ger with much slighter risk of injury than in the 
case of such dangerous and fatiguing employments as 
mining and manufacturing. Not only should the pos- 
sibility of physical injury, but also the exposure to dis- 
ease be kept constantly in mind. To allow children 
to work eight or ten hours a day in a poorly lighted, 
poorly ventilated and foul-smelling room in a tenement 
or factory is very likely to result in disease and prema- 
ture death. Lastly, the hours of the day during which 
children of certain ages may not work are often specifi- 
cally stated in an attempt to eliminate the ill effects of 
night work. In some states children under a certain 
age are forbidden to work from seven at night to six in 
the morning; in other states, especially those that con- 
tain large cities, the hours during which work is pro- 
hibited are somewhat fewer. While substantial ad- 
vance has been made in limiting the hours of child 
labor, existing state laws still need to be improved in 
many particulars. Ten hours a day six days a week 
are too long for children to work in factories and mines 
while grown men and women are insisting upon an 
eight-hour day. And working even eight hours a day, 
breathing the dust of tobacco leaves or inhaling the 
poisonous fumes of gases and dyes, cannot but have a 
serious effect upon the constitution of a child. If the 
child must work, let the work be under sanitary and 
healthful conditions, and let it not be so burdensome 
as to prevent entirely the possibility of normal child 
growth. 

To restrict the ages at which children may begin 
work and to limit the hours of labor is useless unless 
adequate means are taken strictly to enforce the law. 
Because parent, employer, and frequently the child 
itself are interested in evading the law and conspire 



252 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

to deceive the inspector, it becomes exceedingly diffi- 
cult to keep track of infringements of the statute. 
There is, moreover, in many communities, a lack of 
solid public opinion back of child-labor laws which 
makes the work of inspectors doubly difficult. One thing 
would seem to be certain, and that is that the penalties 
imposed for violation of the law are altogether too 
small. In most states, a mere fine is imposed, in al- 
most all cases under one hundred dollars and in some 
instances as low as five, twenty, or twenty-five. Under 
such a system, a fine, even were it strictly enforced, 
becomes a license fee "and not a penalty; and a license 
fee, too, which remains unpaid until the violation of 
the law is detected. The important thing therefore is 
not to try to punish employers after they have violated 
the law, but by an efficient system of inspection to keep 
them within the law. One essential in such an adequate 
system of inspection is that children be required to at- 
tend school up to the age when the child-labor law per- 
mits them to go to work. Every child leaving school can 
then be required to present a certificate from the school 
authorities to his employer and another to the factory 
inspector — giving date of birth, extent of education, 
results of examination to test physical fitness, etc. 
These certificates should be kept on file by employers 
in some accessible place in the factory or other place 
where children are employed; and when children leave 
should be returned to them and notice sent to the fac- 
tory inspector. In this way, inspectors can readily 
check the record of any child suspected of being em- 
ployed in violation of the law. Employers are often 
required to keep posted in a conspicuous place near the 
entrance of the factory or mill a list of children in their 
employ, and on each floor a schedule of the hours of 
labor, together with the time allowed for lunch in the 



TO BELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTKESS 253 

middle of the day. In the case of children engaged in 
street trades, the most advanced states require that 
children must obtain a permit and receive a badge which 
they must wear conspicuously. In this way children 
under the legal age are effectively kept off the streets. 

The steps in the fight for the protection of children so 
far as labor is concerned are very definite. It is a prob- 
lem, first, of complete prohibition wherever that is prac- 
ticable ; secondly, of raising the age limit as high as pos- 
sible; thirdly, of limiting the hours of labor; and, 
finally, of holding employers and parents strictly to the 
law. In attempting to extend the provisions of child- 
labor laws, the objection is commonly raised that it is 
far better for children to work than to starve ; that fre- 
quently upon the death of the father, the mother and 
children are left destitute and if the children are not old 
enough to work, or, being old enough, are not permitted 
by the law to work, they must become a public charge. 
It is to meet this objection and to provide for children 
in just such circumstances that progressive reformers 
to-day are advocating a second measure of child welfare, 
known as mothers' or widows' pensions. The under- 
lying theory of mothers' pensions is not that mothers 
or widows should be cared for in distress and poverty, 
but that through subsidies granted by the state they 
should be enabled to care for and raise children too 
young to provide for themselves. While the scheme is 
fundamentally charitable, in that it gives where ser- 
vices have not been rendered, it is nevertheless charity 
of a hard-headed sort. The purpose is not to pay 
mothers because they have brought children into the 
world and have thus rendered a service to the state, but 
to give to the mother to use in keeping the family to- 
gether the money which the state would have to pay in 
supporting children in public institutions. The princi- 



254 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

pie, therefore, at bottom, is sound. In many instances, 
mothers who are widowed can, by adding to their own 
earnings the small funds which the state now pays to 
public agencies, support and educate their children up 
to the age where they can provide for themselves; and 
even where the state is compelled to pay more than the 
money it is now giving, the superior training in the 
home and consequently the additional social value of 
the children more than justify the additional expendi- 
tures. 

In the five years (1908-1913) since the mothers' pen- 
sion movement began, twenty states have passed 
laws on the subject. 1 The persons to whom payments 
are made under the terms of these laws are usually 
dependent mothers, including within the meaning of 
the term not only widows, 2 but mothers whose husbands 
are in prison, or the insane asylum, or who have de- 
serted or are incapacitated for labor. In Michigan 3 
divorced and unmarried mothers are included, and in 
three states, California, 4 Colorado, 5 and Wisconsin, 6 if 
the parents are unfit to rear the children, the payments 
may be made to a guardian. Payments cease in some 
states 7 when the child reaches the age of fourteen ; in 

1 California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, 
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hamp- 
shire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, 
Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. See American Labor Legisla- 
tion 'Review, Vol. Ill, No. 2, Publication 21, p. 199. See also 
Bureau Publication No. 7, Children's Bureau, JJ. S. Department 
of Labor. 

2 The New Jersey law is limited to widows. Laws of New Jer- 
sey, 1913, C. 281. 

3 Public Acts of 1913, No. 228. 

4 Session Laws of California, 1913, C. 323. 
"Session Laws of Colorado, 1913, p. 694. 

6 Session Laws of Wisconsin, 1913, C. 669. 

7 California, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, 
South Dakota, and Wisconsin. 



TO BELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS 255 

three states when he reaches fifteen ; 1 in four states 
when he reaches sixteen ; 2 in one state, Michigan, when 
he reaches seventeen ; and in two states when he reaches 
eighteen. 3 In the other states, Ohio and Pennsylvania, 
the payments cease when the children arrive at the legal 
working age. 

The amount of payments given to destitute mothers 
varies greatly in the different states. Iowa and Michi- 
gan allow two and three dollars a week respectively ; in 
California twelve dollars and fifty cents a month are 
allowed, one-half of which is paid by the state and the 
other half by the city or county. New Jersey allows 
nine dollars; Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, 
New Hampshire, Oregon, and Utah, ten ; Pennsylvania 
and Wisconsin, twelve ; Ohio, South Dakota and Wash- 
ing-ton, fifteen dollars a month. In the other states 
where pension laws are in force, the amount of 
the pension is left to the discretion of the body in whose 
charge the administration of the law is placed. Where 
there is more than a single child, the amount allowed 
for each additional child varies from five to twelve dol- 
lars a month. 

The general conditions under which pensions are 
granted are indicated by the provisions in the Ohio 
statute. 4 They are as follows: 

"First — the child or children for whose benefit the 
allowance is made must be living with the mother 
of such child or children ; 

Second — the allowance shall be made only when 
in the absence of such allowance the mother 
would be required to work regularly away from 

1 Idaho, Utah, and Washington. 

2 Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Oregon. 

3 Nebraska and Nevada. 

4 Laws of Ohio, 1913, p. 878. 



256 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

her home and children, and when, by means of 
snch allowance, she will be able to remain at 
home with her children, except that she may be 
absent for work at such times as the court deems 
advisable ; 

Third — the mother must, in the judgment of the 
juvenile court, be a proper person, morally, 
physically and mentally, for the blunging up of 
her children; 

Fourth — such allowance shall, in the judgment of 
the court, be necessary to save the child or 
children from neglect and to avoid the breaking 
up of the home of such woman ; 

Fifth — it must appear to be for the benefit of the 
child to remain with such mother ; 

Sixth — a careful preliminary examination of the 
home of such mother must first have been made 
by the probation officer, an associated charities 
organization, humane society, or such other com- 
petent person or agency as the court may direct, 
and a written report of such examination filed." 

Mothers' pensions, in the last analysis, are but a kind 
of charity ; and it is on this ground that the strongest 
and most convincing objections to them have been made. 
Where the charitable nature of the relief is unduly em- 
phasized, as, for example, in the Xew Jersey law, it 
becomes odious to self-respecting women to apply for or 
accept it, and thus the act tends to defeat itself. And 
even where the real nature of the payments is concealed 
by a skillful use of terminology, and every means is 
taken to avoid subjecting the recipients of the state 
bounties to disgrace, mothers' pensions inevitably tend 
to pauperize and lower the standards of self-respect. It 
has been suggested by Dr. Edward T. Devine, who has 



TO EELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS 257 

pointed out the weaknesses of mothers' pensions with 
greater effectiveness than any other writer on the sub- 
ject, that there might be substituted for mothers' pen- 
sions a scheme of social insurance that would retain all 
the advantages of the present plan and eliminate prac- 
tically all of its defects. All employees, employers, and 
perhaps the state as well might contribute to a pension 
fund upon which destitute mothers would have a legiti- 
mate claim. The burdens in this way would be dis- 
tributed among the members of the entire community, 
and those that accepted payments would no more suffer 
disgrace or humiliation than the beneficiaries of life in- 
surance. It is altogether likely that the principle of 
mothers' pensions has come to stay ; and the chief prob- 
lem now is to apply the principle with the greatest 
effectiveness. 

Another measure for the prevention of social distress 
which has become a part of the progressive movement 
is that establishing a minimum wage. Primarily, min- 
imum wage laws are intended to protect girls and 
women from the consequences of inadequate compensa- 
tion; but there is also a tendency to extend its applica- 
tion to include all workers. The agitation in this coun- 
try for the fixing of a minimum wage had its origin in 
a belief that has become widespread in recent years, 
that there is a close connection between immorality and 
the poor wages which young working girls receive. 
Many department stores in large cities pay only three, 
five, or eight dollars a week to salesgirls, and out of this 
small wage in many instances the girls must feed, 
clothe, and house themselves. The assumption that the 
virtue of young women is dependent upon the wages re- 
ceived is vigorously combated in many quarters. While 
there has undoubtedly been much exaggeration of the 
dangers to which young working girls who receive small 



258 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

pay are exposed, it is nevertheless true that virtue be- 
comes repulsive and vice attractive when the one means 
poverty and hardship and the other ease and comfort. 
Young girls do not yield to a life of vice directly be- 
cause of low wages, but low wages and their conse- 
quences weaken the power of resistance and make it 
easier to do so. At first there is but an occasional mis- 
step, to obtain some luxury or pleasure which a small 
income cannot provide; in many cases, wrongdoing is 
completely concealed and intermittent indulgence in 
vice is used to supplement wages ; but too often the life 
proves too attractive and too easy and girls succumb en- 
tirely. 

Minimum wage laws are now in force in nine states, 1 
all of them having been passed in 1913. In every state 
the benefits of the law are restricted to girls and women, 
indicating that the usual motive in passing such laws is 
to remove a contributory cause of immorality. In prac- 
tically all the states, the minimum wage is not fixed by 
the statute, but is left to the discretion of the body that 
administers the law. It is, however, usually specified 
that girls and women must be paid a "living wage." 
The administration of the law is ordinarily placed in 
the hands of a c omm ission^ specially created for the 
purpose in some states, and already in existence in 
other states for other purposes. Violations of the law 
are punished by heavy fines and in some instances by 
imprisonment. 

The most important objections made against the 
minimum wage are three: first, that many employees, 
unable to meet the increased requirements of efficiency 
that will necessarily follow an increase in wages, will 
be thrown out of employment; secondly, that certain 

1 California, Colorado, Massachusetts. Minnesota, Nebraska, Ore- 
gon, Utah. Washington, and Wisconsin. 



TO RELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS 259 

industries may be forced to discontinue because of the 
inability of employers to pay the minimum wage ; and, 
thirdly, that all wages will tend to be reduced to the 
minimum set by the law. That employers will demand 
higher standards of employees if they are compelled to 
pay higher wages is certain ; and that employees unable 
to meet the new requirements will be thrown out of work 
is also certain. But the solution of this difficulty lies in 
one of two directions. Either employees will find 
the kind of employment in which they are sufficiently 
well equipped to earn a living wage, or the state will 
have to face the fact that many employees cannot earn 
a living wage at present and will have to provide for 
them through better industrial and vocational training, 
by public employment, pensions systems, or in some 
other way. To prohibit its citizens from accepting 
wages below a certain standard places the state under 
an obligation to provide for those who cannot meet 
those standards. It accentuates the difficulties of the 
whole labor problem and makes more imperative the 
need of a solution. It is the business of society to do 
what it can to insure to each of its members the means 
of existence and a minimum wage law is a definite step 
in that direction. 

That the enforcement of a minimum wage law com- 
pels certain employers, because of increased expenses, 
to go out of business, is an objection that is more ap- 
parent than real. It is a trite paradox that cheap labor 
is in the long run the most expensive labor and that 
one way to reduce expenses is to increase wages. 
Higher wages command more efficient employees and 
enable employers to reduce working forces. Moreover, 
there is an esprit de corps, a devotion to work, and a 
willingness to sacrifice self in the interests of employers 
that is found in establishments where employees are 



260 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

well paid that is an invaluable asset. But, assuming 
that certain industries might be compelled to discon- 
tinue if compelled to pay employees a living wage, no 
very strong objection can be raised against allowing 
them to do so. If industries can exist only at the ex- 
pense of wrecked, poverty-stricken lives, then surely 
our present civilization cannot tolerate their contin- 
uance at such a costly sacrifice. If women must work 
— and in this age it seems inevitable that they should 
work — let them be paid for their work a sufficient wage 
to allow them to live decently and comfortably. 

The third objection against the minimum wage, that 
where the law prescribes definite wages, employers will 
tend to pay no higher wages, seems at first glance to 
have a great deal of weight. If employers, by using 
the law as a standard, can reduce their expenses, there 
would seem to be no good reason why they should not 
do it. But competition under a minimum wage law will 
still be* an important factor and will make impossible 
the reduction of all wages to the level imposed by the 
law. This will be especially true because competition 
will be keener than at present among the employees 
that remain after those that cannot meet the increased 
efficiency tests have been eliminated. Practical experi- 
ence, moreover, seems to indicate that no fear need be 
entertained. Professor Seager, writing on this point, 
calls attention to the fact that "in Victoria, after the 
minimum wage system had applied to the clothing in- 
dustry for half a dozen years, the average wage for 
women was reported at 42s. 3d. a week, as compared 
with the prescribed minimum of 36s., and the average 
for men as 53s. 6d., as compared with the legal 
minimum of 45s. An average nearly twenty per cent. 
higher than the minimum is pretty conclusive evidence 
that wages continued to vary with the individual ca- 



TO RELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS 261 

pacity of the workers after the minima were prescribed, 
as they had done before. " * 

That minimum wage laws are destined to play a large 
part in preventing human waste and distress seems 
certain. By separating those who cannot earn a liveli- 
hood by their own efforts with their present training 
from those who can; by exposing the industries that 
thrive on the sacrifice of underpaid men and women; 
by showing up defects in our educational system that 
turns children out into the world without the ability 
to support themselves ; by forcing the state to accept the 
responsibility and solve the problem of the unemployed 
— minimum wage laws are rendering invaluable assist- 
ance in removing causes of degradation and suffering. 

In addition to passing child-labor laws, mothers' pen- 
sions laws, and minimum wage laws, modern society, in 
its attempt to prevent waste of human resources, is 
giving a great deal of attention to the problems of fac- 
tory regulation and inspection. After many years of 
neglect, the states are coming to the conclusion that 
they cannot afford to allow millions of their citizens to 
work in factories where they are subject to accident, 
sickness, and death through the failure of employers 
to provide adequate protection. The great social loss 
that results from inadequate factory regulation, the 
increasing knowledge concerning the preventability of 
accident and disease, and the helplessness of the indi- 
vidual workers have combined to arouse the public con- 
science to the need of treating the factory problem as 
one that requires the most effective public control. 

Broadly considered, the factory question, so far as 
the prevention of the waste of human resources is con- 
cerned, presents two sets of problems: first, problems 

1 The Theory of the Minimum Wage, Am. Labor Leg. Eeview, 
Vol. Ill, No. 1, p. 89. 



262 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

of legislation: second, problems of inspection. Laws 
are needed to prevent accidents. So much attention is 
being given to compensation for accidents sustained 
that there is some danger lest it be forgotten that a 
very large percentage of the accidents that now occur 
can be prevented and that it is of the utmost impor- 
tance that as many of these as possible be prevented. 
Every factory should therefore be equipped with the 
most improved safety devices to protect employees from 
mishap from machinery and frequent inspection of ma- 
chines should be required. To prevent the accidents 
due to panic in case of fire, the number of workers in 
factory building's should be strictly limited, according 
to the amount of floor space and the width of stair- 
ways : a sufficient number of enclosed fire escapes of 
reasonable width should be provided: the most im- 
proved sprinkler system should be installed: doors 
should be unlocked and should open outward; and fre- 
quent fire drills should be held. 

Equally important with safeguarding factory em- 
ployees against physical injury or death is their pro- 
tection against preventable diseases. The diseases to 
which workmen are subject may be classified as general 
and occupational, understanding by general those caused 
by conditions of light, air. and sanitation, such as 
tuberculosis, rheumatism, nervous diseases, and the like : 
and by occupational diseases those that are due particu- 
larly to some occupation or trade, as miners' asthma, 
glass blowers' cataract, hatters' shakes, phosphorous 
poisoning, and similar afflictions. To protect employees 
against the first class of diseases, the window and other 
light area of factories needs to be definitely fixed so as 
to insure natural lighting a reasonably large portion of 
the day ; employees should be limited in number so that 
each may have an adequate supply of air: and a well- 



TO RELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS 263 

equipped system of sanitation should be required. The 
solution of the problems raised by occupational diseases 
is much more difficult. First of all, scientific investi- 
gation of such diseases and their remedies is needed. 
" There is no modern treatise on the subject by an 
American authority on industrial hygiene, and the oc- 
casional official investigations which have been made 
into health conditions of particular trades only empha- 
size the necessity of a more thorough and strictly scien- 
tific inquiry by national authority." 1 Only on the 
basis of the fullest scientific data can any attempt to 
legislate on the question be successfully made. After 
such an investigation has been made, society may find it 
advisable to prohibit certain of the more dangerous in- 
dustries entirely; just as it has already forbidden the 
use of phosphorus for match tips. That thousands of 
men and women should every year be offered up as sac- 
rifices in the manufacture of any products seems a re- 
proach upon our modern civilization. The least that 
the state can do is to spare no pains or expense in an 
attempt to eliminate these frightful diseases entirely or 
at any rate to abate the ravages which they now make. 
There is to-day not so much a lack of laws on the 
statute book regulating work in factories as there is a 
lack of inspection and enforcement of laws already 
passed. The meagerness of the factory inspection pro- 
vided at present is indicated by the fact that there are 
only about four hundred and twenty-five factory in- 
spectors in the whole country to care for nearly seven 
million factory workers and that in fourteen states 
with 474,000 factory workers not a single factory in- 
spector is provided. And even in those states where 

1 Memorial on Occupational Diseases, prepared by a committee 
of experts and presented to the President of the United States. 
Am. Labor Leg. Beview, Vol. I, No. 1, Pub. 12, p. 129. 



264 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

inspection is provided it is not efficient. In the first 
place, not enough inspectors are appointed to permit 
inspections sufficiently frequent to count. In the sec- 
ond place, salaries paid are altogether too small to at- 
tract competent men. It is little short of ridiculous to 
pay a man $1,200 or $1,500 a year to protect the health 
and lives of thousands of workmen. In the third place, 
inspectors are not thoroughly acquainted with the 
statute that forms the basis of their inspection and con- 
sequently are unable to detect violations readily. In 
the fourth place, in the great majority of the states, no 
preliminary examination is held to test a candidate's 
general knowledge of factory conditions. Even the sim- 
ple details of inspection require a knowledge of ma- 
chinery, architecture and sanitation, and the more diffi- 
cult problem of occupational diseases and their causes 
requires expert medical knowledge. The inefficiency of 
inspection made by political appointees, even if they 
devoted themselves conscientiously to their work, is 
apparent. In the fifth place, the fine usually imposed 
for violating the statute is so small that it is regarded 
rather as a license than as a penalty. With the few 
inspectors at present employed, each factory can be vis- 
ited only at long intervals, and, even if the employer is 
fined as a result of each visit, he is content to pay the 
money for the privilege of violating the law between 
inspections. 

The great interests at stake require that these 
breaches in the present system of factory inspection be 
repaired at the earliest possible moment. A sufficient 
number of inspectors should be employed to make at 
least monthly inspections possible; large enough sal- 
aries should be paid to enlist the services of trained ex- 
perts, and to every force of inspectors there should be 
added a corps of doctors with special knowledge con- 



TO RELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS 265 

cerning occupational diseases. Searching examination 
should be made of a candidate's knowledge of factory 
laws and factory conditions not only before appoint- 
ment, but periodically after appointment to test the 
inspector's knowledge of changes that may have taken 
place. Employers found guilty of violating the statute 
should be held criminally liable and subject to a severe 
punishment. Most important of all in factory regula- 
tion is cordial and sympathetic cooperation on the part 
of employer, employee, and inspector in carrying out 
the law. Too frequently, through misunderstandings 
that never should arise, these three classes work at cross 
purposes. Employers can be made to feel not only a 
sense of moral responsibility for the welfare of their 
employees and a legal duty to obey the law, but also 
the economic advantage of taking the best care possible 
of their men and women. Employees can be consulted 
concerning improvements that are needed to make laws 
and inspections more effective and can be encouraged 
to report violations to employers and to inspectors. This 
interchange of ideas and suggestions can be accom- 
plished through the medium of circulars printed 
perhaps partly at state expense and partly at the ex- 
pense of employers and distributed among the workmen 
in the various trades and occupations. These circulars 
might contain news concerning the most recent laws, 
the latest safety devices, the means of preventing acci- 
dents, the causes of occupational disease and other in- 
formation of a similar character. It is only by treating 
the factory problem as every one's problem, as a social 
and not as an individual problem, that substantial prog- 
ress can be made in the direction of greater protection 
of the life and health of workmen. 

The subjects thus far discussed in this chapter, child 
labor, mothers' pensions, minimum wage, and factory 



266 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

regulation, have emphasized the need of preventing the 
waste of human resources in industrial work. There 
remain to be considered certain measures that have come 
into prominence in recent years in connection with the 
progressive movement which have as their object the 
relief of unavoidable social distress. Most important of 
these measures, because of the change they have wrought 
in the law governing the relations of employer and em- 
ployee, and because of the definiteness of the relief 
which they afford, are employers' liability, workmen's 
compensation, and state insurance acts. 

Under the common law which remained unchanged 
in most of the states until well on into the nineties and 
which is still in force in some of the states, an employer 
owes his employees three duties so far as the prevention 
of accidents is concerned: first, to use reasonable care 
to make the place of work safe ; secondly, to use reason- 
able care to provide safe tools and machinery with which 
to work ; and, finally, to use reasonable care to hire only 
competent fellow-workmen. That an employee is in- 
jured because of unsafe surroundings, defective machin- 
ery, or careless fellow-workmen is no guaranty that he 
can recover: the responsibility of the employer ends 
with the exercise of "reasonable care.'' In bringing an 
action to recover for injuries sustained, therefore, the 
employees are required to show clearly that the injury 
was caused by the violation of one or more of the duties 
of the employer. In defending an action against in- 
jured employees, on the other hand, employers are al- 
lowed to use any of three so-called "common law de- 
fenses" : in the first place the employer may claim that 
the employee has voluntarily assumed the risk incident 
to his employment : in the second place, he may contend 
that the injury was caused entirely or partly by the in- 
jured employee's own negligence; or. finally, he may set 



TO BELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS 267 

up in defense that the employee was injured through the 
carelessness of a fellow-servant with whose habits and 
failings the injured employee should have been familiar. 
Under modern industrial conditions these provisions of 
the common law have been completely outgrown. It is 
brutal to tell an injured mill or machine operator who 
is fitted for only the one occupation in which he is en- 
gaged, that he cannot recover for his injury because he 
knew the risks when he entered the work and if he did 
not care to assume them he should have chosen some- 
thing less dangerous. It is inhuman to tell a maimed 
or crippled dye-maker or loom operator who through 
fatigue or exhaustion may have been momentarily care- 
less and suffered a mishap, that he can receive no com- 
pensation from his employer during a long period of 
enforced idleness. And, finally, it is absurd to place 
upon any single employee in a great corporation like 
the United States Steel Corporation or the Southern 
Pacific Railroad the obligation to familiarize himself 
with the habits of thousands of his associates in order 
that he may prevent injury to himself through their 
carelessness. Where these common-law defenses are in 
force, in many cases employees cannot recover at all for 
injuries sustained ; and where they do manage to over- 
come, with great difficulty, the opposition of the highly 
paid, skilled lawyer of the corporation which they are 
suing, the money they receive is soon exhausted in pay- 
ing counsel fees and other expenses incident to bringing 
the action. During the weeks, months, and even years 
immediately following accidents, when money is most 
needed, injured workmen and their families are forced 
to accept charity or break up the home. 

The first modification of the common law is usually 
accomplished by the passage of employers' liability acts. 



268 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

These acts still make it necessary for injured employees 
to apply to the courts for compensation for injuries, but 
make it easier for them to recover by changing the de- 
fenses of the employer in several substantial particulars. 
The employee is no longer presumed to have voluntarily 
assumed the risks incident to his employment; the so- 
called fellow-servant doctrine is abolished ; and the con- 
tributory negligence rule is modified so as to allow an 
employee to recover where he has not been culpably care- 
less. The burden of proof, moreover, is shifted from 
the employee to the employer and the latter must show 
that he was not negligent and that his employee was; 
reversing the former practice of requiring the employee 
to establish the fault of the employer and his own free- 
dom from neglect. 

Employers' liability acts, much as they improve the 
conditions previously existing, are defective in three 
fundamental respects. In the first place they retain the 
court trial with all its delays and expense. The amount 
of money left, after the different fees are deducted from 
the sum recovered, is small and comes too late to be of 
the most assistance. In the second place, the determina- 
tion of the amount of money to be recovered is left in 
the hands of a jury instead of being fixed by law. This 
practice results in as great unfairness to the employer as 
it does to employees, because an over-sympathetic jury is 
very apt to award an abnormally large verdict in a given 
case and cause serious financial embarrassment to an 
employer. The employee suffers, too, chiefly from the 
uncertainty as to the amount he is to receive. In many 
cases it is just as likely to be six cents as six dollars or 
six thousand dollars. In the third place, no guaranty is 
provided that the employee will be paid even if he does 
recover. In a general catastrophe, such as an explosion 



TO RELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS 269 

in a mine or a fire in a factory, several hundred may be 
killed and injured. To place upon an employer the ob- 
ligation to pay compensation to all those injured work- 
men and their families often results in his bankruptcy 
and inability to meet all claims upon him. 

To remedy these defects of employers' liability acts, 
twenty-five states 1 have passed workmen's compensa- 
tion acts. These acts are based upon the theory that the 
losses suffered by workmen because of injuries are social 
losses and should be added to the cost of production and 
borne by the community as a whole. Every effort is 
made, therefore, to pay the injured workmen promptly 
a fair sum proportioned to the seriousness of his injury, 
the financial loss caused by his disability, and the length 
of time during which the disability continues.' Court 
trials are abolished and usually a commission is ap- 
pointed to take their place in administering the act. 
Payments are definitely stated and provision is made 
against possible inability of the employer to pay. The 
operation of a typical act is as follows : within a reason- 
able time after receiving an injury, unless it results in 
death or disability, the employee is required to notify 
the employer of the facts of the accident and of his 
claim for compensation. If the employer and employee 
fail to agree as to the right of the employee to recover 
or the amount which the employee is entitled to receive, 
in some states the matter is arbitrated by a board of 
three, one member of which is elected by the employer, 
one by the employee, and the third by the other two. In 

1 Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, In- 
diana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, 
Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, 
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Washington, West 
Virginia, and Wisconsin. 



270 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

some cases the award of the arbitration board is final 
except for fraud or mistake ; in cases where it is not an 
appeal usually lies to the compensation commission it- 
self. Only in exceptional cases can an appeal be carried 
beyond the commission into the courts. In practically 
every case the only defense which the employer can in- 
terpose is that the employee was guilty of gross or will- 
ful negligence and clear evidence is required to establish 
that fact. 

The feature of workmen's compensation acts that is 
most characteristic is the payment of stated sums in- 
stead of indefinite amounts to be determined by a jury 
or commission. To prevent malingering, these pay- 
ments do not begin until a prescribed period, usually 
two weeks, has elapsed after the accident. In case of 
death, a distinction in the size of payment is made in 
the case of those leaving persons wholly dependent, those 
leaving persons partly dependent, and those leaving no 
dependents at all. In the first case, the weekly wage 
of the dead workman is allowed for a given period of 
years, in most cases three. In the second case, the pay- 
ments are made in proportion to the relative dependency 
of the survivors. And, in the last case, an amount to 
cover reasonable medical attendance and the cost of 
burial is allowed. In case of total disability, a certain 
percentage, usually fifty, of the workmen's wages not 
to exceed a certain amount — usually $10 — nor to fall 
below a certain amount — usually $4 or $5 — is paid up 
to a maximum number of weeks — ordinarily from 300 
to 500 — until a maximum amount — usually $3,000 or 
$4,000 — has been reached. Where the disability is only 
partial, a certain percentage, in most cases fifty per 
cent., of the impairment of earning capacity is allowed. 
In many statutes provision is made for the compensa- 



TO RELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS 271 

tion in specific cases such as the loss of hand, leg, thumb, 
and eye. 1 

Important as it is that the amount of compensation 
should be definitely stated and not left to the whim of 
a jury or commission, it is even more important that the 
payment of the compensation by the employer be se- 
cured. This is accomplished by requiring employers to 
satisfy the workmen's compensation commission that 
they are responsible ; or, failing that, by requiring them 
to insure in a liability or mutual insurance company. 
Where insurance is taken out, considerable difficulty 
arises in the adjustment of premiums because of the 
different rates of compensation in the various states. A 
man employed by a Wisconsin corporation may be in- 
jured while in New York and elect to sue in that state. 
Inasmuch as the rates there are higher than those in 
Wisconsin, a premium paid by the corporation on the 
basis of Wisconsin rates of compensation would be in- 
sufficient to cover the amount the employer would have 
to pay under the law of the other state. This difficulty 
is one which uniformity in the laws of the different 
states alone can solve. 

Having passed from common law liability to employ- 
ers' liability and then to workmen's compensation, in 
evolving an adequate system of relieving the distress 
caused by injuries to workmen, the progressive move- 
ment proposes one step more; i. e., from workmen's 
compensation to state insurance. By state insurance is 
not meant a system similar to that in the state of Wash- 

x One of the most recent acts, that passed in New York State 
in December, 1913, allows the following maximum amounts: 

Thumb $900 Other toes $240 

First finger 690 Hand 4,800 

Second finger 450 Arm 6,240 

Third finger 375 Foot 4,100 

Fourth finger I (225 Leg 5,760 

Great toe 570 Eye 2,560 



272 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

ington, where the employee contributes nothing to the 
fund; but rather a system like that in Oregon where 
employer, employee, and state together contribute. 
There is danger in passing a great amount of remedial 
legislation lest employees be pauperized by charity. 
What the progressive movement stands for in advocating 
the relief of industrial distress is not paternalistic char- 
ity by the government, but a helpful cooperation on the 
part of all the elements of society to make the workman's 
burden less heavy. A system of state insurance to which 
employees as well as employers contribute is greatly 
superior to workmen's compensation because it gives the 
employee an interest in the fund and consequently in 
reducing the number of accidents and keeping the pre- 
mium down. It changes him, too, from a recipient of a 
benevolent charity into an independent workman con- 
tributing with his fellow-workmen toward his own sup- 
port in case of injury or disability. 

In line with a system of state insurance to protect 
workmen against the worst consequences of accidents is 
a system of state insurance to protect them against the 
rigors of old age. Such a plan is already in operation 
in several European countries and before long will have 
to be taken up here. Rightly organized, old age insur- 
ance is neither paternalistic nor socialistic ; and is there- 
fore a great improvement over a system of old age pen- 
sions. Employees might be required to contribute a 
small percentage of their savings to a state fund which 
might be supplemented by appropriations from the state 
treasury. Upon proof of service covering a given period 
of years, workmen might then be allowed a retirement 
pension based upon the average income during the 
period of service. Such a system tends to remove the 
terrors of unemployment in old age and to encourage 
steadiness in workmen; but most important of all, it 



TO RELIEVE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS 273 

recognizes and discharges in an effective way an obliga- 
tion which societj and the state owe to every citizen 
who by long years of labor has contributed to the general 
welfare. 

The task of the progressive movement in the state is 
very plain and very definite. It must give to the people 
a real control over government at all times : before elec- 
tion by direct primaries, corrupt practices acts, the 
short ballot, the Massachusetts ballot, and an effective 
registration system ; and after election by the initiative, 
the referendum, and the recall. It must then use the 
government, thus restored to the people, to prevent and 
relieve social and industrial distress : to prevent distress 
by saving the life of the child through stringent child 
labor laws ; by giving to the child the benefit of the up- 
lifting home influence as long as possible through a sys- 
tem of mothers' pensions; by protecting men, women, 
and especially young girls, through a minimum wage 
law, from sacrificing their manhood and their woman- 
hood, and by adequate factory regulation and inspection ; 
and, finally, when bones are broken and health is gone, 
to relieve distress by placing upon the shoulders of 
society a part of the burden which the individual hith- 
erto has borne. 



PAKT IV 

THE PKOGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IN THE 

CITY 



CHAPTER XIII 

MUNICIPAL HOME RULE 

No proof is required to-day to support the claim that 
the city is as important in our political life as the na- 
tion or the state. Indeed, it would not be impossible 
to support the thesis that the city is the most important 
of our political divisions. At present nearly one-tenth 
of the total population of the country lives in three 
cities, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia. In 1910 
the percentage of the total population residing in cities 
of 2,500 or more inhabitants was 46.3. But it is not 
alone the size or number of cities that makes them 
worthy of attention. They are especially important 
because they so vitally touch and affect the life of every 
citizen. Where the average citizen comes in contact 
with the state or national government at one point, he 
comes in contact with the city at a hundred. Whether 
water is pure or impure, whether milk is adulterated 
or unadulterated, whether fires are few or many, 
whether air is fresh and clear or laden with soot and 
smoke, whether citizens are happy or unhappy, whether 
they live or die — the city largely determines. Every 
second individual passes his life in the city. It is lit- 
erally, startlingly true that the city is the hope of 
democracy. It may not be true that all will prosper 
if the city prospers. But it is true that if the city fails 
all will fail with it. 

277 



278 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

In a study of progressive principles, the city is as 
important as the nation or the state, and in some re- 
spects more so ; for practically every fundamental prob- 
lem of government that arises in the larger political 
divisions arises in the city; and because of the smaller 
extent of the latter and its more direct contact with its 
citizens, each problem is apt to be more definite and 
more easily recognizable. In working out the relation 
of government to public utilities, in experimenting with 
new and simpler structures of government, in reducing 
the size of ballots, in fixing the extent and methods of 
socialization of government — cities are meeting and 
solving problems which the state and nation must also 
face. The city is the workshop, the experiment sta- 
tion of democracy. 

In the nation and the state, as we have seen, the 
phases of the progressive movement are three: re- 
moving corrupt, special influence from government ; 
modifying the structure of government so as to make 
it easier for the people to control; and using the gov- 
ernment so restored to the people to relieve social and 
economic distress. In the city, while the phases of the 
progressive movement are essentially the same, there 
are certain minor differences that require comment. 

The first problem of the city, as of the nation or the 
state, that would be progressive, is to become free. But 
because of the peculiar position which cities occupy in 
our scheme of government, freedom in the case of the 
city means more than it does in the nation or the state. 
It means that the city must not only shake off the in- 
visible influences within its own limits that seek to con- 
trol it for their own gain, but that it must go farther 
and insure itself against unjust and wanton interfer- 
ence with its affairs by those without its walls, in some 
instances hundreds of miles away. To realize itself 



MUNICIPAL HOME KULE 



279 



fully, a city must, in so far as the exercise of purely 
local functions is concerned, be free from the domina- 
tion of the state legislature — must, in other words, have 
municipal home rule. 

Once freed from the domination of special influence 
and from the interference of the state legislature, how- 
ever benevolent and well-intentioned that interference 
may be, the city is ready to modify its machinery of 
government so as to make it more readily controllable 
by its citizens. Expressed in other words, the progres- 
sive city should, as a second step, adopt that form of 
city charter that will afford to its voters the largest 
opportunity for direct and effective participation in 
municipal affairs. 

A third phase of the progressive movement in cities 
—a phase which does not appear to so great an extent 
in the nation and state — is the so-called efficiency move- 
ment. The thesis of the rapidly increasing body of 
men who support the efficiency movement in city gov- 
ernment is that running a city is like running a busi- 
ness and that the success of the one, as the success of the 
other, depends very largely on efficient and economical 
organization and methods. Even a city with model 
machinery of government — as for example a city oper- 
ating under the commission or city manager plan — 
may have an exceedingly weak government if the ma- 
chinery is not effectively operated. 

A fourth and final phase of the progressive move- 
ment in city government is the socialization, so far as 
practicable, of the city's activities. Municipal home 
rule, simplified city charters and efficient administra- 
tion are not ends in themselves, but merely means to 
an end. The real end of government is to serve the 
people; and for that reason the progressive movement 
in the city purposes to extend the functions of city 



280 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

government to promote the welfare and comfort of its 
inhabitants so far as it is compatible with a free gov- 
ernment and democratic institutions. 

Unless there is a provision in the state constitution 
to the contrary, every city is under the complete con- 
trol of the legislature. This means that the state can 
prescribe the city's charter, determine the number and 
kind of functions which the city may exercise, and the 
manner of exercising them. On the relation of the city 
to the state, Judge Dillon, in his book, Municipal Cor- 
porations/ says: "It is a general and undisputed 
proposition of law that a municipal corporation pos- 
sesses and can exercise the following powers and no 
others. First, those granted in express words; second, 
those necessarily or fairly implied in or incident to the 
powers expressly granted; third, those essential to the 
declared objects and purposes of the corporations not 
simply convenient, but indispensable. Any fair reason- 
able doubt concerning the existence of power is resolved 
by the courts against the corporation and the power is 
denied. Of every municipal corporation the charter or 
statute by which it is created is its organic act. Neither 
the corporation nor its officers can do any act or make 
any contract or incur any liability not authorized there- 
by, or by some legislative act applicable thereto. All acts 
beyond the scope of the powers granted are void." 

Speaking on the same point, Goodnow in his Munici- 
pal Home Rule 2 says: ". . . These bodies (i. e., cities) 
have, except as to their property rights, no legal claim 
to protection under the general clauses in the American 
constitution guaranteeing private rights. At quite an 
early date in our history the United States Supreme 

1 Dillon, Law of Municipal Corporations, 4th ed., p. 145. Quoted 
by Goodnow, Municipal Home Rule, p. 45. 

2 P. 31. 



MUNICIPAL HOME RULE 281 

Court intimated that municipal corporations, except so 
far as their property rights were- concerned, were to be 
regarded as governmental agencies rather than as legal 
persons, and therefore subject to legislative regulation. " 
A quotation from the United States Supreme Court is 
worth noting. "A municipal corporation ... is a 
representative, not only of the state, but is a portion 
of its governmental power. It is one of its creatures 
made for a specific purpose, to exercise within the lim- 
ited sphere the powers of the state. The state may 
govern . . . the local territory as it governs the state 
at large. It may enlarge or contract its powers, 
or destroy its existence." * 

In the absence of constitutional prohibition, there- 
fore, there is no limit to the number and no qualifica- 
tion of the kind (save that private property is pro- 
tected) of acts concerning cities which the legislature 
may pass. A few examples will suffice to show to what 
extent the legislatures have gone in their attempt to 
control cities, usually for selfish and corrupt purposes. 
In 1870 the state legislature of Pennsylvania passed 
an act appointing certain persons commissioners to take 
charge of the construction of a new city hall in Phila- 
delphia. The act states that "said commissioners shall 
make requisition on the councils of said city, prior to 
the first day of December, in each year, for the amount 
of money requisite by them for the purpose of the 
commission for the succeeding year; and said councils 
shall levy a tax sufficient to raise the amount so re- 
quired. . . ." 2 In spite of a provision in the state 
constitution 3 that "no debt shall be contracted, or liabil- 

1 Goodnow, Municipal Home Bule, p. 30, footnote. 

2 Session Laws of Pennsylvania, 1871 — Appendix, 1870, pp. 
1548-9, No. 1404. 

3 Art. XV, Sec. 2. 



282 THE pkogkessiye movement 

ity incurred by any municipal commission except in pur- 
suance of an appropriation previously made therefor 
by the municipal government, '* the Supreme Court of 
Pennsylvania 1 decided that the municipal govern- 
ment could, by mandamus, be compelled to make the 
necessary appropriation. And so a city already bur- 
dened with debt was placed at the mercy of an irre- 
sponsible commission appointed by the state and given 
great authority over the city's resources. 

Another remarkable instance of wanton interference 
by the state legislature in the affairs of a city is fur- 
nished by the city of Pittsburgh. 2 Por many years the 
city had been under the domination of several political 
"bosses." About 1900 a reform movement was started 
and the bosses were ousted. Xothing daunted, the 
bosses carried the struggle to the state capital at Har- 
risburg and induced the legislature to revoke the char- 
ter of Pittsburgh and pass a new one under which they 
might regain control. The new charter provided that 
the governor should appoint as the executive head of the 
city a recorder who should have the power to appoint 
the heads of the city departments. The governor ap- 
pointed a recorder favorable to the defeated bosses. 
and the recorder in his turn through his control of the 
city appointments restored the bosses to power. 3 

More recent illustrations of unwarranted interfer- 
ence by the state legislature with municipal affairs may 
be found in current session laws of almost any state. 
Por example, in Massachusetts in 1912 the special legis- 
lation includes an act relative to the retirement of cer- 



1 In Perkins v. Slack. S6 Pa. 270. 

2 For a picturesque account of municipal corruption in Pitts- 
burgh, see McClvre's, Vol. XXL p. 24: Pittsburgh: A City 
Ashamed, by Lincoln Steffens. 

3 Act of the General Assembly Xo. 14. Approved March 7, 1901. 



MUNICIPAL HOME RULE 283 

tain veterans in the service of the city of Lynn ; 1 an 
act to authorize the city of Boston to pension the widow 
of Daniel T. Dineen ; 2 and an act to authorize the lay- 
ing out of a street over a part of Mugford Park in 
Marblehead. 3 To check legislative interference that 
was running riot, many states very early found it neces- 
sary to restrain the state legislature by means of the 
state constitution. The earliest of these constitutional 
restraints was the prohibition against the enactment by 
the state legislature of so-called special legislation, i. e., 
legislation affecting a single city. These special acts 
aimed at by the provision in the state constitution were 
of three different kinds : special acts incorporating cit- 
ies ; special acts amending or modifying the charters of 
cities; and special acts regulating the local or internal 
affairs of cities. 

The provision concerning special legislation in the 
New York constitution is particularly worthy of notice. 
Art. XII, Sec. 2, provides : "After any bill for a spe- 
cial city law, relating to a city, has been passed by both 
branches of the legislature, the house in which it origi- 
nated shall immediately transmit a certified copy 
thereof to the mayor of such city, and within fifteen 
days thereafter the mayor shall return such bill to the 
house from which it was sent . . . with the mayor's 
certificate thereon, stating whether the city has or has 
not accepted the same. In every city of the first class, 
the mayor, and in every other city, the mayor and the 
legislative body thereof concurrently shall act for such 
city as to such bill. . . . Whenever any such bill is 
accepted as herein provided, it shall be subject as are 
other bills, to the action of the governor. Whenever, 

'Chap. 55, Laws of 1912. 
'Chap. 85, Laws of 1912. 
•Chap. 65, Laws of 1912. 



284 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

during the session at which it was passed, any such bill 
is returned without the acceptance of the city or cities 
to which it relates, or within such fifteen days is not re- 
turned, it may nevertheless again be passed by both 
branches of the legislature, and it shall then be subject 
as are other bills, to the action of the governor." 

Prevented from controlling cities through special 
laws applicable to only one city, the state legislatures, 
to control the cities at all, had to control them through 
general laws. 1 In most cases, the state constitutions in 
forbidding the legislatures to enact special laws direct 
them to pass general acts, applicable to a class of cities 
instead of to one. The theory back of the requirement 
that the legislature enact only general laws is, of course, 
that charter tinkering and special jobbing are more dif- 
ficult when the legislature is dealing with all cities or all 
cities of a particular class, than when it is dealing with 
only one city. The legislatures, however, have over- 
come the difficulty very readily. Some of the state 
constitutions, in directing tnat cities be classified, direct 
the legislature to classify in proportion to the popula- 
tion of the cities and to make no more than a certain 
number of classes. Most of the provisions, however, 
place no limit on the number of classes which the legis- 
lature may create. The legislatures, with their usual 
keenness where political gain is concerned, have been 
quick to take advantage of the opportunity. They have 
made so many classes that in some cases each important 
city in the state is in a class by itself. By providing for 
eight or ten classes and grading the classes properly, 
the legislature has nullified the constitutional prohibi- 
x The constitution of New York State (Art. XII, Sec. 2) defines 
a general law thus: "General city laws are those which relate to 
all the cities of one or more classes; special city laws are those 
which relate to a single city, or to less than all the cities of a 
class. ' ' 



MUNICIPAL HOME KULE 



285 



tion against special legislation and may now by stating 
that a particular law applies to "all cities of the first 
class," conform to the letter of the constitution, but by 
placing only a solitary city in that class violate its 
spirit. 

The conditions that existed in Ohio up to eight or ten 
years ago illustrate very well how easily state legis- 
latures may make nugatory prohibitions against special 
legislation. The constitution of Ohio adopted in 1851 
enjoined the legislature from passing any specal legis- 
lation for cities and required the enactment of general 
laws. The state legislature divided the cities into 
classes as follows. 1 

Class I 

Grade 1. Over 200,000 (Cincinnati). 

Grade 2. From 90,000 to 200,000 (Cleveland). 

Grade 3. From 31,5Q0 to 90,000 (Toledo). 

Grade 4. Those promoted from Class II (None). 



Class II 

Grade 1. From 30,500 to 31,500 (Columbus). 
Grade 2. From 20,000 to 30,500 (Dayton). 
Grade 3. From 10,000 to 20,000 ( Youngstown) . 
Grade 3a. From 28,000 to 33,000 (Springfield). 
Grade 4. From 8,000 to 10,000 (Four cities). 
Grade 4a. From 8,330 to 9,050 (Ashtabula). 

The Ohio situation was somewhat extreme and yet 
similar classifications have been made in other states to 

1 Eeport of the Municipal Home Eule Committee of the Munici- 
pal Association of Cleveland, 1912, pp. 10-11. 






286 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

comply with the letter of the constitution and evade its 
spirit. Cities in Xew York State are divided into 
three classes. Cities of the first class are cities having 
a population of 175,000 or more. Only three cities come 
under this class, i. e., Xew York, Buffalo, and Roches- 
ter. In Alabama, a general law providing for commis- 
sion government was passed for cities of 100,000 and 
more. Birmingham is the only city affected, the next 
largest city in the state being Mobile with a population 
of about 51,000. In California, a state that allows its 
cities to make their own charters, the following com- 
plex classification is used : 

First Class.— Cities over 400,000. 

First and One-half Class. — Cities between 250,000 

and 400,000. 
Second Class.— Cities between 100,000 and 250,- 

000. 
Second and One-half Class. — Cities between 35,- 

000 and 100,000. 
Third Class.— Cities between 23,000 and 35,000. 
Fourth Class.— Cities between 20,000 and 23,000. 
Fifth Class. — Cities between 6,000 and 20,000. 
Sixth Class. — Cities 6,000 and under. 

Some state constitutions, to guard against abuses in 
classification, have limited the number of classes into 
which the legislature may divide cities. 1 But even this 
precaution does not insure cities against unfair special 
legislation. 

Prohibitions against special legislative tinkering 
with cities have proved totally inadequate. Realizing 

1 For example, Colorado limits the number of classes that may 
be created to four, Kentucky to six, Missouri to four, South Da- 
kota to four, and Wyoming to four. 



MUNICIPAL HOME RULE 287 

this, some of the states have gone a step farther and in 
their constitutions have given cities the right to make 
and amend their own charters. It is sometimes said 
that these states have granted complete home rule, 
but such statements are inaccurate because home rule 
involves the right to regulate internal affairs as well as 
the right to make and amend charters; and, although 
cities in these so-called home rule states may freely 
make and amend their own charters so far as the char- 
ters concern the form or structure of government, they 
are frequently subject to legislation affecting their in- 
ternal affairs. Nevertheless the city that can determine 
the form or structure of its government has the most 
definite and tangible benefits of home rule and, from 
one point of view, the most important; for with this 
right cities may modify their structure of government 
as they will and thus make it more responsive to its 
citizens. 

Twelve states thus far (1914) have granted their 
cities the right of home rule. They are : 

Missouri 1876 Oklahoma 1907 

California 1879 Michigan 1908 

Washington 1889 Arizona 1911 

Minnesota 1896 Ohio 1912 

Colorado 1902 Nebraska 1912 

Oregon 1906 Texas* 1912-1913 

The extent to which home rule is enjoyed by cities 
in these twelve states is determined, partly by the pro- 
visions of the constitution itself ; but to an even greater 
degree by the decisions of the courts interpreting those 

1 Constitutional amendment passed in 1912. Cities were em- 
powered by the state legislature to take advantage of the amend- 
ment in 1913. 



288 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

provisions. The line of demarcation between the func- 
tions of the city and those of the state is so indefinite 
that it is practically impossible in any constitution to 
establish it beyond dispute. Theoretically, municipal 
home rule guarantees to cities the right to control local 
affairs, but the great difficulty arises when an attempt 
is made to find for ''local affairs'' a suitable definition. 
In the absence of any constitutional provision to the 
contrary it is well established that the state has com- 
plete power over the affairs of the city, and in claiming 
the right to exercise any function the burden of proof 
is on the municipality. To what extent this situation 
is modified by constitutional provisions restricting the 
legislature or vesting authority in the cities is so uncer- 
tain that different courts in different states have given 
to practically the same words an almost directly oppo- 
site meaning. The result is that the courts can without 
greatly straining the language of the constitution give 
to cities almost complete home rule or keep them in 
almost complete subjection to the state legislature. 

In some states the extent to which the home rule 
provisions apply is specifically limited by restricting the 
right to govern themselves to cities of a certain popula- 
tion. Thus in Missouri the home rule provisions of 
the constitution apply to cities of over 100,000 in- 
habitants; in California, to cities of over 3,500; in 
Washington, to cities over 20,000; in Texas, to cities 
over 5,000; and, in Nebraska, to cities of over 5,000. 
In Missouri the limitation is serious because only two 
cities, St. Louis and Kansas City, meet the requirement 
of the constitution. This restriction of the right to 
self-government to cities of a certain size shows clearly 
the struggle cities have had to make to obtain home 
rule. Xot until they were forced by the growing size 
and importance of their cities have states accorded to 



MUNICIPAL HOME RULE 289 

them the right to administer their own affairs; and 
when the states did yield it was only to the strongest 
and most powerful municipalities. 

The provisions in the constitutions of the twelve states 
that have granted cities home rule vary widely. The 
Missouri constitution 1 provides that a any city having 
a population of more than 100,000 inhabitants may 
frame a charter for its own government consistent with 
and subject to the constitution and laws of this state," 
and then goes on to prescribe the procedure for the 
formation and adoption of the charter. Sec. 17 pro- 
vides that "it shall be a feature of all such charters 
that they shall provide, among other things, for a mayor 
or chief magistrate and two houses of legislation, one 
of which at least shall be elected by general ticket." 2 
The serious limitations in the constitution itself, apart 
from any construction placed upon them by the courts, 
are: 

1. Home rule is limited to two cities. 

2. The kind of government is in part prescribed, 
making impossible the adoption of such progressive 
types of city government as the commission plan and 
the city manager plan. 

The constitution of California adopted in 1879, 
provided 3 that "any city containing a population of 
more than 100,000 may frame a charter for its own 
government, consistent with and subject to the consti- 
tution and laws of this state. . . ." 4 The charter after 

1 Art. IX, Sec. 16. 

'Amended so far as St. Louis is concerned in 1902. The consti- 
tution now requires only one legislative body, which must be 
elected by general ticket. 

3 Art. XI, Sec. 8. 

4 An amendment adopted in 1896 provides that "cities and 
towns . . . and all charters thereof, except in municipal affairs, 
shall be subject to and controlled by general laws." Art. XI, 
Sec. 6. 



290 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

it has been ratified by the city must be submitted a to the 
legislature for its approval or rejection as a whole, 
without power of alteration or amendment." The con- 
stitution was amended in 1887 to include cities of more 
than 10,000 and again in 1890 to include "any city 
containing a population of more than 3,500 in- 
habitants." 1 

In addition to the right to frame their own charters, 
California gives its cities the power to "make and en- 
force within its (their) limits all such local, police, 
sanitary and other regulations as are not in conflict with 
general laws ;" 2 and forbids the legislature "to impose 
taxes upon counties, cities, towns, or other public or 
municipal corporations . . . for county, city, town or 
other municipal purposes/' directing the legislature "by 
general laws" to "vest in the corporate authorities 
. . . power to assess and collect taxes for such pur- 
poses." 3 

In addition, cities in California are authorized by the 
constitution to provide in their charters for 

1. The constitution, regulation, government, and 

jurisdiction of police courts. 

2. The election, term of office, qualifications, com- 

pensation, etc., of boards of education. 

3. The election, term of office, constitution, regu- 

lation, compensation, and government of po- 
lice boards. 

4. The general conduct of city elections and con- 

trol of election boards. 4 

1 Art. XI, Sec. 8. 

'Art. XI, Sec. 11. 

8 Art. XI, Sec. 12. 

4 Art. XI, Sec. 8%, further provides that, " where a city and 
county government has been merged . . . into one government, it 
shall be competent ... to provide for the manner in which, the 



MUNICIPAL HOME RULE 291 

The Washington state constitution provides that "any 
city containing a population of 20,000 inhabitants, or 
more, shall be permitted to frame a charter for its own 
government, consistent with and subject to the consti- 
tution and laws of this state." 1 There follow directions 
in detail concerning the procedure cities are to use in 
framing and adopting their charters. In addition to the 
right to make their own charters, cities are definitely 
given authority to adopt such local police, sanitary, and 
other regulations as "are not in conflict with general 
laws." 2 

The Minnesota constitution provides 3 that "any city 
or village in this state may frame a charter for its own 
government as a city consistent with and subject to the 
laws of this state." The method of framing and adopt- 
ing the charter is then prescribed in detail. Origi- 
nally the constitution required that all charters should 
provide for "a mayor, or chief magistrate, and a legis- 
lative body of either one or two houses, if of two houses, 
at least one of them shall (should) be elected by general 
vote." 4 This was amended in 1911 to read "any such 
charter or any amendment or revision thereof may pro- 
vide for the commission form of government having 
legislative and administrative powers or it may provide 
for a mayor or chief magistrate and a legislative body 

times at which, and the terms for which the several county and 
municipal officers and employees whose compensation is paid by 
such city and county, excepting judges of the Supreme Court, 
shall be elected or appointed, and for their recall and removal, 
and for their compensation and for the number of deputies, clerks 
and other employees that each shall have, and for the compensa- 
tion, method of appointment, qualifications, tenure of office and 
removal of such deputies, clerks and other employees." 

*Art. XI, Sec. 10. 

2 Art. XI, Sec. 11. 

•Art. IV, Sec. 36. (As amended, 1911.) 

4 Art. IV, Sec. 36. 



292 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

of either one or two houses ... or it may provide for 
any other plan or system of municipal government" not 
inconsistent with the state constitution. 1 

Another clause of the Minnesota home rule pro- 
vision which might seem to limit a city's freedom in 
adopting a new charter is the provision that a charter 
commission of fifteen is to be appointed by the district 
judges and not elected by the people. It is possible, 
however, for cities to evade this provision, if they have 
already adopted a home rule charter. The constitu- 
tion provides that the charter commission must upon 
the written application of ten per cent, of the qualified 
electors submit amendments at the next election. By 
retaining the first few sections of an old charter and 
proposing the rest as an amendment, cities can adopt 
practically any kind of charter they choose without the 
cooperation of the charter commission. 2 In so far, 
however, as this provision affects cities that have not 
already adopted home rule and must therefore rely 
upon a charter commission appointed by the district 
judges for a new charter and amendments, the home 
rule provisions of the Minnesota constitution are open 
to criticism. 

The Colorado provisions for home rule 3 apply to 
Denver and other cities with a population of over 2,000 
and are extremely liberal. Cities are given power, 
"within or without its (their) territorial limits, to con- 
struct, condemn and purchase, purchase, acquire, lease, 
add to, maintain, conduct and operate, water works, 
light plants, power plants, transportation system, heating 
plants, and any other public utilities or works or ways, 

a Laws of Minnesota for 1911, Chap. 393. 

2 St. Paul adopted this plan in the ease of its charter of 1912, 
which is a new charter under the guise of amendments to the 
old one. 

3 Art. XX, Sees. 1, 4, 5 and 6. (Amendment adopted in 1902.) 



MUNICIPAL HOME RULE 293 

local in use or extent, in whole or in part, and every- 
thing required therefor, . . . and any such systems, 
plants or works or ways, or any contracts in relation or 
connection with either . . . may be purchased by said 
city, which . . . shall have the power to issue bonds 
upon the vote of the taxpaying electors ... in any 
amount necessary to carry out any of said powers or 
purposes, as may by the charter be provided." Cities of 
the first and second class have exclusive power in the 
making, altering, revising or amending their charter. A 
certain per cent, of the qualified electors may petition 
the council for a charter amendment or a charter con- 
vention. If the proposal to have a charter convention 
is accepted, twenty-one taxpayers are elected to frame 
and submit a charter which, if approved by a majority 
of those voting thereon, becomes the organic law of the 
city. The only express limitation on charters is the 
provision that u no such charter, charter amendment or 
measure shall diminish the tax rate for state purposes 
fixed by act of the general assembly, or interfere in any 
wise with the collection of state taxes." 2 

The Oregon constitution is very concise in its home 
rule grant to cities. It says : 3 "The legislative assem- 
bly shall not enact, amend, or repeal any charter or act 
of incorporation for any municipality, city or town. 
The legal voters of every city and town are hereby 
granted power to enact and amend their municipal 
charter, subject to the constitution and criminal laws 
of the State of Oregon." 

1 If 5 per cent., the amendment or proposal to have a charter 
convention is voted on at the next general election; if 10 per 
cent., at a special election to be held not less than 30 nor more 
than 60 days after filing of petition. No special election on 
the same proposal may be held within two years. 

2 Art. XX, Sec. 5. 

3 Art. XI, Sec. 2. (As amended June 4, 1906.) 



294 THE PROGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

Oklahoma 1 grants cities of more than 2,000 in- 
habitants the right to frame their own charters. The 
procedure is briefly as follows : The legislative body in 
the city or 25 per cent, of the voters may demand an 
election to determine whether a new charter shall be 
adopted. If a majority favor a new charter, a board 
of freeholders, two from each ward, is elected. This 
board frames a charter which, after sufficient advertise- 
ment, is submitted to the voters of the city. If a ma- 
jority approve, it is submitted for approval to the gov- 
ernor. The governor is required to approve if the char- 
ter is not in conflict with the constitution and laws of 
the state. 

In Michigan the legislature is directed to provide by 
a general law for the incorporation of cities. Munici- 
palities have the authority to frame, adopt, and amend 
their charters as well as to "pass all laws and ordi- 
nances relating to municipal concerns, subject to the 
constitution and general laws of the state." 2 While at 
first this appears to leave room for legislative interfer- 
ence and dominance in local affairs, in practice it has 
worked out to give cities considerable freedom. In addi- 
tion to the right to make and amend their charters, cer- 
tain other specific rights are given: "to acquire, own 
and operate either within or without its (their) cor- 
porate limits, public utilities for supplying water, light, 
heat, power and transportation." 3 A city may sell or 
deliver water, light, heat, and power without its cor- 
porate limits to an amount not to exceed 25 per cent, of 
that furnished by it within the corporate limits, and 



1 Art. XVIII, Sees. 3a and 3b. 

2 Art. VIII, Sees. 20-21. 



MUNICIPAL HOME RULE 295 

may operate transportation lines outside the city within 
such limits as may be prescribed by law. 1 

Under the constitution of Arizona, any city with a 
population of more than 3,500 may frame a charter for 
its own government subject to the constitution and laws 
of the state. The manner in which the charter is to be 
framed and adopted is prescribed in detail. As in Okla- 
homa, the charter adopted by the city is sent to the 
governor, who must approve if it does not conflict "with 
this constitution or with the laws of the state." 2 

The Ohio constitution of 1912 provides 3 that "any 
municipality may frame or adopt or amend a charter 
for its government, and may, subject to the provisions 
of section 3 of this article, exercise thereunder ail pow- 
ers of local self-government." Section 3 contains the 
familiar limitation "as are not in conflict with general 
laws." Many miscellaneous powers are given to cities, 
the most important of which are the power to adopt 
local police and sanitary regulations; and the power to 
construct and operate public utilities within or without 
corporate limits. 4 The specific provisions regulating 
the framing and adopting a charter are substantially 
the same as those in Oklahoma except that the approval 
of the governor is unnecessary. An interesting provi- 
sion is that which requires a copy of the proposed char- 
ter to be mailed not less than thirty days before election 
to each elector whose name appears upon the poll or 
registration books of the last regular or general elec- 
tion. 

By an amendment 5 to the constitution of Nebraska 

1 Cities of less than 25,000 may not own or operate transporta- 
tion facilities. 

2 Art. XIII, Sec. 2. 

3 Art. XVIII, Sec. 7. 

4 Art. XVIII, Sees. 3, 4, 5. 

6 See Chapter 227, Laws of 1911, for text of amendment. 



296 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

adopted in 1912, cities in that state with a population 
of more than 5,000 may now make their own charters. 
There is no restriction on the city save that found in 
most constitutional home rule provisions that the char- 
ter must be "consistent with and subject to the consti- 
tution and laws of this state." 

The latest of the states to adopt a constitutional home 
rule amendment is Texas. In 1912 the proposed amend- 
ment was submitted to the people and ratified; and in 
1913 the state legislature passed a law giving the 
amendment effect. The amendment provides that 
"cities, having more than five thousand inhabitants, 
may, by a majority of the votes of the qualified electors 
of said city, at an election held for that purpose, adopt 
or amend their charters, subject to such limitations as 
may be prescribed by the legislature, and providing that 
no charter or any ordinance passed under said charter 
shall contain any provision inconsistent with the con- 
stitution of the state or the general laws enacted by the 
legislature of the state. . . ." x The year after the 
amendment was ratified, the legislature passed a law, 
prescribing, in accordance with the constitutional 
amendment, the extent to which municipalities might 
govern themselves and the methods by which the privi- 
lege of home rule was to be exercised. In the law, direc- 
tions are given concerning the drafting and ratification 
of charters and some of the powers of self-government 
granted to cities under the amendment are definitely 
enumerated. In section four of the act, the legislature 
expressed its intention of giving to the cities of the state 
the full benefit of the home rule amendment, declaring 
"that by the provisions of this Act, it is contemplated 
to bestow upon any city adopting the charter or amend- 
1 Constitution of Texas, Art. XI, Sec. 5. 



MUNICIPAL HOME KULE 297 

ment hereunder the full power of local self-govern- 
ment. . . ." x 

The interpretations placed upon these provisions by 
the courts vary widely. The difficulty arises in connec- 
tion with a clause found in practically every one of the 
home rule provisions — a clause, too, which must be 
there if cities are not to be independent sovereignties — 
to the effect that the city charter must be "consistent 
with and subject to the general laws of the state." Some 
courts have maintained that this clause does not mean 
that a state legislature by passing a general law can 
nullify any law on the same subject passed by a munici- 
pality, but that it applies only when cities go beyond 
the exercise of their local functions and conflict with 
laws or regulations that concern the entire state. Other 
courts have held that home rule gives cities the right 
to control local affairs only so long as the legislature 
does not see fit to control them; and that as soon 
as the legislature passes a law on a subject on which a 
municipality has already legislated, the law of the latter 
becomes null and void. 

Of the states where the question of the extent to 
which the state legislature controls the city has come 
up for judicial determination, Ohio illustrates one ex- 
treme view and Washington another. In Ohio the 
courts have decided that cities are to be presumed to 
have complete authority over all local functions and 
that when the city's authority is questioned the burden 
is upon the one who disputes it to show that the city's 
authority is limited. In Washington, on the other 
hand, the courts have held that if the legislature passes 
a law on any subject, that law is supreme. It makes no 
difference whether the city has passed a law previously 
on the same subject or whether the matter is purely one 

1 General Laws of Texas, 1913, Chap. 147. 



298 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

of local concern. It is not even necessary that the city 
law conflict with the state law. If it is on the same sub- 
ject, it is annulled. 

Here, as in so many other contests for progress and 
reform, the last stronghold to be taken is the courts. 
After years of struggle against legislative meddling 
with local affairs, cities in a few states have obtained 
the constitutional right to be free. But even this right 
may be taken away if the courts by their decisions 
emasculate the constitutional provisions. Fortunately, 
thus far, Washington is an extreme case. In most of 
the states that have constitutional home rule, the 
courts by their rulings have secured to the cities a large 
measure of freedom. 

Municipal home rule is the corner-stone of the pro- 
gressive movement in American cities. Without it, it 
is true, cities may, and in some instances are, adopting 
advanced forms of city charters, improving the effi- 
ciency and promoting the economy of city government 
and socializing the city's activities. But so long as cities 
are controlled to any considerable degree by state legis- 
latures, this work must go on in a stumbling, halting 
way. The issue between those who favor and those who 
oppose municipal home rule goes to the heart of 
democracy itself. It is the issue of freedom and the 
right of the people to rule themselves. Not until cities 
are free and have all the privileges and responsibilities 
that always accompany freedom will they measure up 
to their opportunity and fulfill their true function in 
our political life. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE CHARTER MOVEMENT 

A second phase of the progressive movement in cit- 
ies is the tendency manifesting itself all over the United 
States to adopt a simpler form of city charter for the 
purpose of making municipal government more directly 
responsive to popular control. Although it is true that 
cities can simplify — and in fact many cities have al- 
ready simplified their structure of government through 
the state legislature and without municipal home rule 
— nevertheless the so-called charter movement may be 
regarded as the logical next step for cities that have 
through constitutional provisions shaken off legislative 
dominance and obtained the right to choose their own 
form of government and manage their own internal 
affairs. 

It should be remembered, however, that home rule 
does not guaranty good city government any more than 
the right to be virtuous insures virtue. Home rule 
merely gives to the city a large opportunity to be effi- 
cient. A city under the complete dominance of its state 
legislature may have a better government than a city 
with the broadest home rule powers if the state legis- 
lature is benevolent and the city careless in civic affairs. 
The government of New York under the charter given 
to it by the state is more efficient than the government 
of Denver under a charter of its own making. Cities, 

299 



300 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

after escaping from the bondage of state legislatures, 
may wander many years in the wilderness of bad gov- 
ernment before reaching the promised land of true 
democracy. 

For the city that has obtained the right to choose its 
own charter and is seeking the type that will make pos- 
sible the greatest efficiency in its government, there are 
available several new kinds of municipal charters 
worked out by progressive cities since the beginning of 
the century. Of these the most important and the most 
widely adopted are the commission plan and the city 
manager plan. The fundamental purpose underlying 
these two types of city government — and in fact the 
whole charter movement — is twofold. First, cities aim 
to adopt that form of city government which, by its 
simplicity, its absence of checks and balances, its con- 
centration of authority and responsibility, may be easily 
controlled. Secondly, they aim to evolve efficient instru- 
ments and devices of control. In other words, cities 
are concerned with the problem of finding simple ma- 
chinery of government and the means with which to 
operate it. A discussion of the charter movement in 
cities, therefore, involves not only a discussion of the 
commission plan and the city manager plan as forms of 
city government, but also consideration of non-partisan 
primaries, preferential voting, corrupt practices acts, 
proportional representation, the initiative, the referen- 
dum, and the recall as instruments with which these 
forms may be successfully controlled. 

The first city in the United States to adopt the so- 
called commission plan of city government was Gal- 
veston, Texas. In September, 1900, the city was laid 
waste by a hurricane of unusual violence accompanied 
by a great tidal wave. The old council form of gov- 
ernment, ineffective even under normal conditions, was 



THE CHARTER MOVEMENT 301 

utterly unable to meet the situation. To save the city 
from complete ruin and to effect its rehabilitation 
as speedily as possible, an appeal was made to the gov- 
ernor ^and legislature of the state to grant a charter 
providing for an emergency board of five men to be 
appointed by the governor 1 and to have complete con- 
trol over the city. The governor and the state legisla- 
ture consented, and in September, 1901, Galveston be- 
gan its career as the first commission-governed city in 
the country. 

The success of the commission appointed in Galveston 
in building an enormous sea-wall, in repaving streets, in 
restoring the city's credit, and in reconstructing the city 
generally, so impressed the neighboring city of Hous- 
ton, Texas, that in 1905 it, too, applied for and obtained 
a charter essentially similar to that of Galveston. In 
1907 a prominent lawyer of Des Moines, having been 
impressed by the commission plan while on a trip 
through the South, on his return to Iowa, began a cam- 
paign to obtain commission government for Des Moines. 
In 1907 the legislature of Iowa passed a general law 
enabling cities with a population of 25,000 or over to 
adopt the commission plan. Des Moines took advan- 
tage of this act in 1907 and made the Des Moines 
Plan of city government known all over the country. 
Cedar Rapids followed in 1909 ; and since then cities 
in all sections of the United States have followed in 
quick succession until at the present time about three 
hundred cities are operating under the commission 
plan. 2 

1 The constitutionality of this provision of the charter was suc- 
cessfully questioned, and it was changed so as to provide for the 
election of five commissioners by the citizens of Galveston. See 
Bradford, Commission Government in American Cities, p. 6. 

2 There are three ways in which cities may now acquire the 
right to adopt this new form of city government: first, under 



302 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

JSTaturally, there are almost as many variations in 
the provisions of the commission charters that have 
been adopted as there are cities that have adopted them. 
In every case, however, no matter how much charters 
may differ as to minor details, they have certain fun- 
damental features in common. These fundamental 
features of commission charters are four: 

1. Authority and responsibility are centralized. 

2. The number of men in whom this authority 

and this responsibility are vested is small. 

3. These few men are elected from the city at 

large and not by wards or districts. 

4. Each man is at the head of a single depart- 

ment. 

1. Until recently most city charters, in imitation of 
the federal and state constitutions, provided for a dis- 
tribution of powers among the three branches of gov- 
ernment, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. 
The mayor, with his heads of departments, constituted 
the executive department, a council, often bicameral, 
constituted the legislative department, and the state 
courts within the city limits supplemented by minor 
city courts constituted the judicial department. The 
theory back of this division of authority was that the 
most efficient government can be obtained only when 
power is wisely distributed among the several branches 

the authority of a special act passed by the state legislature, as 
in the case of Galveston and Houston ; second, under the authority 
of a general state law, allowing all cities of a certain size to 
adopt a law prescribed by the state, as in the case of Des Moines 
and Cedar Rapids; and, finally, by adopting the commission plan 
of its own choice under the authority of a home rule provision 
in the state constitution, as in the case of Oakland and Sacra- 
mento. 



THE CHARTER MOVEMENT 303 

of government so that one branch will act as a check 
upon the others. 

In practice, so far as cities are concerned, this plan 
has signally failed. It has failed largely because it 
proceeded on the assumption that city government is 
analogous to state and national government and that a 
system that works well for one will work well for all. 
As a matter of fact, there is a closer analogy between 
the management of a city and the management of a 
business corporation than there is between the manage- 
ment of a city and the management of the nation or of 
a state. City administration is largely a business prob- 
lem and must adopt the methods of business ; and just 
as any large business corporation would fail if the con- 
duct of its affairs were entrusted to a number of indi- 
viduals or groups of individuals for the express purpose 
of having some check others, so city business has failed 
because state legislatures have entrusted the adminis- 
tration of the affairs of cities to various bodies that 
could not agree upon and were meant not to agree upon 
a plan of action. 

The most serious practical defect of this "checks and 
balances" type of city charter is the divorcement of 
authority from responsibility. This defect manifests it- 
self in at least two ways. In the first place, under the 
old type of city government, it is almost impossible to 
fix responsibility with certainty. If, for example, a 
great fire breaks out in a city and an attempt is made 
to fasten the blame upon the mayor, he may with some 
degree of plausibility say that he could not prevent fires 
because he was not given sufficient money by the city 
council to supply efficient fire apparatus. In the sec- 
ond place, the severance of responsibility from author- 
ity places an executive or administrator in the position 
of being forced to ask the council to pass ordinances 



304 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

regulating matters concerning which the executive or 
administrator knows everything and the council prac- 
tically nothing. Ordinances and regulations governing 
details of administration should be passed by those im- 
mediately responsible for their execution. If, for exam- 
ple, the police department feels the need of additional 
rules regulating the licensing of street venders, it should 
have the power to pass the rules which its experience 
teaches will be adequate to meet the situation instead of 
depending upon a council the members of which are 
probably ignorant on the whole matter. 

The commission form of city government removes 
these weaknesses that exist in the old plan of city gov- 
ernment by concentrating in the one board all adminis- 
trative and legislative powers. It is not possible for the 
members of the commission, if a holocaust happens, to 
disclaim all responsibility. They are directly responsi- 
ble, for they had the power to make regulations as well 
as the power to carry them into effect. ISTor is it neces- 
sary where such a concentration of power exists for 
administrators to appeal to a legislative body for au- 
thority to adopt regulations which the administrators 
find necessary. The commission that executes the ordi- 
nances makes them and the fault is its own if it does 
not make those that it needs. 1 

2. Power centralized in the hands of fifty men 
would not result in commission government. It is not 
centralization alone that the commission form empha- 
sizes; it is centralization in the hands of a few men. 
Thus in no instance does a commission charter provide 

*It seems hardly necessary to remind the reader that the pow- 
ers of the commission are limited by the provisions of the charter, 
and that the commission could not pass laws in violation of them. 
It is in the making of minor rules and regulations that the com- 
mission has complete authority. 



THE CHARTEK MOVEMENT 305 

for more than nine commissioners, and in the majority 
of cases the number is limited to five. 

The advantages of such concentration are obvious. 
In the first place, it tends to induce abler men to enter 
politics. Capable men demand responsibility and au- 
thority, and when they realize that they are to be mem- 
bers of a commission of five in whose hands the man- 
agement of the affairs of the entire city is to be placed, 
they are very likely to become interested. In the sec- 
ond place, the fact that there are only a few men at 
the head of the city government makes it possible for 
citizens to take a more active and intelligent interest 
in municipal affairs. Each commissioner is a conspicu- 
ous figure, known all over the city ; the acts of the com- 
mission are easy to follow; and the individual citizen 
knows exactly to whom he should go to make his protest 
count. In the third place, a small commission makes 
possible the transaction of a large amount of business 
effectively and expeditiously. There are no lengthy de- 
bates ; the five commissioners gather about a table in the 
council room, talk over a proposition informally, dis- 
cuss it from all angles, and then cast their votes. 

3. In the election of the council by the city at large, 
the commission form again departs radically from the 
old "checks and balances" plan. Under the old plan 
each section or ward was given separate representation 
in the city council, while under the commission form 
the members of the commission are elected from the 
city at large. Election at large is an almost unqualified 
improvement over ward representation. Candidates 
must be more widely known and therefore in all proba- 
bility are better qualified ; there is less opportunity for 
machine manipulation of votes ; and, most important of 
all, the interests of the whole city and not those of any 



306 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

particular section are likely to be uppermost in the 
minds of the commissioners. 

4. In every commission city each commissioner is 
placed at the head of a particular department. Thus in 
Des Moines there are five departments — public affairs, 
accounts and finance, public safety, streets and pub- 
lic improvements, and parks and public property — 
with a commissioner at the head of each. In many 
cities one of the commissioners, in addition to serving 
as head of a city department, acts as mayor and in that 
capacity presides over council meetings and represents 
the city at public ceremonies. Usually, however, the 
commissioner who serves as mayor has no veto power 
over the acts of the commission. Commissioners are 
assigned to their respective departments in one of three 
ways: they may be elected to the particular depart- 
ments by the voters themselves; they may be assigned 
to a department by the commission as a whole; or, 
finally, they may be assigned by the mayor. 

There has been considerable discussion concerning 
the relative advantages of the first of these methods, 
viz., ''election to a specific office" and the two others, 
namely, "election at random." * In support of the first 
method, it is urged that commissioners feel their re- 
sponsibility to voters more keenly when they have been 
elected to a specific office ; that better men can be chosen 
because there is an opportunity to study the qualifica- 
tions of candidates in the light of the office they are to 
fill: and that the possibility of bickering among the 
commissioners after election to decide which shall have 
the different departments is removed. 

At least one argument can be advanced in favor of 
"election at random." It frequently happens that two 

1 See an article in National Municipal Beview, October, 1913, 
pp. 661 et seq. 



THE CHAKTEE MOVEMENT 307 

or more men both of whom are well qualified to serve as 
commissioners run for the same office. Under the sys- 
tem of Election to specific office" the city w T ould neces- 
sarily lose the services of one of these men ; while under 
the "election at random" plan both might be chosen and 
later appointed to particular departments. For in- 
stance, there might be three bankers running for places 
on the commission. All three might be exceptionally 
well qualified for a specific office and in addition be 
better general administrators than any of the other can- 
didates in the field. And yet under "the election to 
specific office" method all three would probably be can- 
didates for commissioner of public finance and thus two 
competent city officials would have to be sacrificed and 
inferior candidates accepted instead. 

In addition to these four essential features of com- 
mission government, there are many most interesting 
minor provisions, which because of lack of space cannot 
be discussed here. What is most significant about the 
commission plan as a part of the progressive movement 
in American cities is the fact that it makes it extremely 
difficult for any organized corrupt influence exerted by 
political bosses or special interests to control the city 
government, and at the same time its simplicity, its lack 
of checks and balances make it easy for interested citi- 
zens to take an active, intelligent interest in municipal 
affairs. Commission government has its limitations, as 
will be pointed out in the discussion of the city manager 
plan, but compared with the old mayor and council 
type of city government, it is a decided step in advance. 

Commission government has now been in operation 
sufficiently long to reveal some rather serious weaknesses 
on the administrative side. Most cities in framing 
commission charters thought that they would obtain 
the best results if commissioners were required to de- 



308 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

vote their entire time to their offices. That is to say, 
in most commission cities, commissioners are the real 
and not the nominal heads of city departments. From 
this requirement alone arise many limitations of com- 
mission government. In the first place, the very meager 
salaries that most cities are willing or able to pay, while 
not sufficiently large to induce prominent business men 
— men of affairs fitted to run city departments — to de- 
vote their entire time to the work, are exceedingly at- 
tractive to the politicians who could earn little or noth- 
ing in any other field. In the second place, the plan of 
electing commissioners directly by the people makes it 
difficult to obtain men of the right caliber. Commis- 
sion government has attempted the impossible task of 
finding three or five or seven candidates who are politi- 
cally popular and at the same time efficient adminis- 
trators. Mr. H. S. Gilbert son, in an interesting analy- 
sis, 1 quotes the case of Wichita, Kansas, on this point. 
There one of the commissioners is an ex-street laborer. 
Politically, the man was popular enough to win an elec- 
tion; and yet it is perfectly obvious that digging in 
streets cannot fit a man to administer the technical de- 
tails of a city department. 

Another serious weakness of the commission plan 
arises from the fact that it provides for no single, re- 
sponsible, administrative head of the city government. 
All the commissioners are elected by the people. Each 
is in charge of a single department. Each wishes to 
make a record in that department and is likely to care 
little about what happens in the other departments. Xo 
one commissioner has power to take charge and conse- 
quently there are likely to be as many governments in 
a commission city as there are commissioners. 

1 American City, September, 1913. Some Serious Weaknesses of 
the Commission Flan. 



THE CHARTER MOVEMENT 309 

Commission government, therefore, is strong on the 
political side because it gives the voters direct and easy 
control over candidates and officials. It is weak on the 
administrative side, because no provision is made to ob- 
tain expert service and no single official is given full 
power. 

The city manager plan retains all the advantages of 
the commission form and eliminates most of its weak- 
nesses. The council or commission is kept, but instead 
of administering the city's affairs itself, it hires an ex- 
pert called the city manager to manage the city in its 
stead. The manager has full power of appointment and 
removal of heads of departments and is held responsi- 
ble for the entire city government. This plan makes 
the council or commission a board of directors and the 
head of the city a business manager. 

The evolution of the city manager plan is most in- 
teresting. Its germ was contained in the Galveston 
commission charter which allowed men to act as com- 
missioners without giving full time to their depart- 
ments. The practical result of this provision was that 
prominent business men ran for office and when elected 
engaged competent subordinates to do the actual work, 
while they, the commissioners, acted as directors and 
supervisors. 1 

The first city in the United States to adopt the city 
manager plan in anything like the form in which we 
now know it was Staunton, Virginia. In 1908 this 
little city with a population of about 12,000 adopted the 

*It is interesting to note that a plan was proposed (but re- 
jected) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which provided for four gen- 
eral managers — one for each of four departments — to be ap- 
pointed by the mayor, and to receive a salary of $3,000 a year. 
Had this plan been adopted, it would have been little more than 
a modification of the Galveston plan as it has worked out in 
practice. 



310 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

charter which has since become known as the "Staunton 
Plan." In this case, as in the case of Galveston, neces- 
sity was the mother of invention. The constitution of 
Virginia required that cities of 10,000 or more in- 
habitants must have as part of their government a 
bicameral council and mayor. Staunton did not want 
a council and a mayor, but, being forced to accept them, 
devised a scheme to secure efficient city government in 
spite of those obstacles. 

The Staunton charter provides that the council shall 
appoint an officer to be known as general manager, 
who is to hold office for one year unless sooner removed 
by the council at its pleasure. It further provides that 
the general manager shall devote his entire time to the 
duties of his office and shall have charge and control of 
all the executive work of the city in its various depart- 
ments, and have entire charge and control of heads of 
departments and employees of the city. The mayor is 
the official head of the city and has charge of the police 
and fire departments. But the general manager buys 
all the supplies for these departments as well as for all 
other departments and is required to make quarterly 
and annual reports showing in detail all work done by 
him. The general manager keeps a regular set of 
double entry books which serve as a complete check on 
the office of city treasurer. The general manager and 
treasurer both render monthly balances to the council, 
one operating as a check on the other. 

Increased impetus was given to the spread of the city 
manager plan when, in 1910, the Xational Short Bal- 
lot Organization in response to a request from the Lock- 
port, New York, Board of Trade, prepared a model city 
charter of the city manager type. The Board of Trade, 
after a careful consideration of the proposed charter, 
indorsed it and recommended to the state legislature 



THE CHARTER MOVEMENT 311 

that a law be passed empowering the city of Lockport to 
adopt it. The legislature, however, refused, and so 
Lockport did not have an opportunity to experiment 
with the city manager plan. 

The Board of Trade, however, had caused to be 
printed and distributed a number of copies of the char- 
ter in pamphlet form. It was the circulation of this pro- 
posed Lockport charter more than the adoption of the 
city manager plan by Staunton that acquainted cities 
with the new type of city government and encouraged 
them to experiment with it later on. 

In 1912 the legislature of South Carolina passed an 
act allowing cities of more than 10,000 and less than 
20,000 inhabitants and cities of more than 50,000 and 
less than 100,000 inhabitants to hold an election to de- 
cide whether they wished to adopt the commission form 
of government. Special provision was made in this act 
for an election in Sumter, at which the voters were to 
decide whether Sumter should adopt "The Commission 
Form of Government" or "The Commission Form of 
Government with a City Manager." The vote was three 
to one in favor of the city manager plan. 

Under the terms of the act, if the city adopted the 
commission form with a city manager, a mayor at $300 
per annum and two councilmen at $200 per annum were 
to be elected. "The mayor and councilmen . . . shall 
not distribute the powers of said council among the 
members of the same; but shall employ a male person 
of sound discretion and of good moral character not of 
their number, of such salary and upon such terms as 
they may decide, who shall be subject to such rules and 
regulations as may be provided by said councilmen." 1 

The first council elected in Sumter under the new 

1 Sec. 30, Commission Form of Government Act, as ratified by 
the South Carolina Legislature, Session 1912. 



312 THE PKOGBESSIVE MOVEMENT 

plan set out in earnest to find the most competent man 
to take the position of city manager. To obtain the 
best results, it sent the following notice throughout the 
country : 

Oct. 14, 1912. 

"The City of Sumter hereby announces that ap- 
plications will be received from now till December 
the first for the office of City Manager of Sumter. 

"This is a rapidly growing manufacturing city 
of 10,000 population, and the applicant should be 
competent to oversee public works, such as paving, 
lighting, water supply, etc. 

"An engineer of standing and ability would be 
preferred. 

"State salary desired and previous experience 
in municipal work. 

"The City Manager will hold office as long as 
he gives satisfaction to the commission. He will 
have complete administrative control of the city 
subject to the approval of the board of three elected 
commissioners. 

"There will be no politics in the job; the work 
will be purely that of an expert. 

"Local citizenship is not necessary, although a 
knowledge of local conditions and traditions will 
of course be taken into consideration. 

"A splendid opportunity for the right man to 
make a record in a new and coming profession, as 
this is the first time a permanent charter position 
of this sort has been created in the United States. 

"At the request of the City Commissioners, these 
applications will be filed with the Chamber of Com- 
merce of Sumter, A. V. Snell, Secretary." x 

1 The City Manager Plan of City Government, National Short 
Ballot Organization, p. 6. 



THE CHARTER MOVEMENT 313 

In response to this advertisement, 150 replies were 
received. In 1913 Mr. M. M. Worthington, a former 
civil engineer from Virginia, was selected. Already 
Mr. Worthington has demonstrated the advantages of 
the new system by installing a cost system that will save 
half of his salary on one or two items. 1 

The city of Dayton, Ohio, taking advantage of the 
home rule clause in the constitution of 1912, prepared 
and adopted May 20, 1913, a new charter of the city 
manager type. Section 3 of the charter in describing 
the new form of government, says "The form of govern- 
ment . . . shall be known as the ' Commission-Manager 
Plan' and shall consist of a commission of five citizens 
who shall be elected at large in manner hereinafter pro- 
vided. The commission shall constitute the governing 
body with powers as hereinafter provided to pass ordi- 
nances, adopt regulations, and appoint a chief adminis- 
trative officer to be known as the 'City Manager/ and 
exercise all powers hereinafter provided." 

Sec. 47 provides that the city manager is to be ap- 
pointed by the commission without regard to his politi- 
cal beliefs or residence within or without the city. He 
is the administrative head of the municipal government, 
is responsible for the efficient administration of all de- 
partments, and may be removed at the will of the com- 
mission or by the recall of the electorate. 

The powers and duties of the city manager under the 
Dayton charter are : 

(a) "To see that the laws and ordinances are en- 

forced;" 

(b) "To appoint and, except as herein provided, 

remove all directors of departments and 
all subordinate officers and employees in 
i lUd., p. 6. 



314 THE PKOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

the departments . . . ; all appointments to 
be upon merit and fitness alone, and in the 
classified service all appointments and 
removals to be subject to the civil service 
provisions of this charter;" 

(c) "To exercise control over all departments and 

divisions created herein or that may be 
created by the commission ;" 

(d) "To attend all meetings of the commission 

with the right to take part in the discus- 
sion, but having no vote;" 

(e) "To recommend to the commission for adop- 

tion such measures as he may deem neces- 
sary or expedient;" 

(f) "To keep the commission fully advised as to 

the financial condition and need of the 
city;" and 

(g) "To perform such other duties as may be pre- 

scribed by this charter or be required of 
him by ordinance or resolution of the com- 



Springfield, Ohio, followed the example set by Day- 
ton, and on August 26, 1913, adopted the city man- 
ager plan. Other cities have followed and everything 
seems to indicate that the city manager plan will be a 
permanent contribution to the science of municipal gov- 
ernment. 

Thus far in this chapter the commission plan and 
the city manager plan of city government have been 
considered as structures of government, machinery to 
be controlled. Xo discussion of these two new types of 
city government would be complete, however, without 
a brief discussion of the devices that are used in 

1 Sec. 48. 



THE CHARTER MOVEMENT 315 

controlling them. Among the most important of 
these devices are non-partisan primaries, preferen- 
tial voting, corrupt practices acts, proportional repre- 
sentation, the initiative, the referendum, and the 
recall. 

Practically every commission-governed city provides 
for the nomination of candidates by petition and in no 
other way. In some cases the charter provides that a 
small percentage of those voting at a preceding election 
and in other cases that a small absolute number, by 
signing a petition and filing it with the proper city offi- 
cial by a specified time, may have placed upon the ballot 
the name of any person as a candidate. The names of 
the persons so nominated are arranged on the ballots in 
alphabetical order and no party emblems are used. The 
practical effect of this system of non-partisan primaries 
is to destroy political parties in cities and at the same 
time to make it easy for any group of citizens to take 
part in municipal government and place a candidate in 
the field. 

The importance of preferential voting in connection 
with city government is that it makes unnecessary the 
usual two elections, i. e., the primary election and the 
regular one. Instead of voting for five candidates to fill 
the five offices, each voter selects five as his first choice 
and five as his second. If each of five candidates has 
not received a majority of the votes, the first and second 
choice votes are added together and the five who have 
a majority of first and second choice votes combined are 
declared elected. 1 

The corrupt practices provisions in most commission 
city charters are very severe. Candidates are forbid- 

x If no majority results after first and second choice votes are 
added together, another election must be held. Other methods are 
sometimes used. 



316 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

den to canvass for votes, to make any preelection pledges 
to appoint men to office, and in some instances to use 
automobiles or other vehicles to carry "last minute" 
voters to the polls on election day. The provisions of 
the Springfield, Ohio, charter on this point are worth 
quoting : "]^~o candidate . . . shall make any personal 
canvass among the voters to secure his nomination or 
election, or the nomination or election of any other can- 
didate at the same election. . . . He may cause notice 
of his candidacy to he published in the newspapers and 
may procure the circulation of a petition for his nomi- 
nation; but he shall not personally circulate such peti- 
tion, nor by writing or otherwise solicit anyone to sup- 
port him or vote for him. He shall not expend or prom- 
ise any money, office, employment or other thing of 
value to secure a nomination or election; but he may 
answer such inquiries as may be put to him and may 
declare his position publicly upon matters of public in- 
terest, either by addressing public meetings or by mak- 
ing written statements for newspaper publication or 
general circulation." 1 

The fundamental idea back of proportional repre- 
sentation is to substitute for geographical representa- 
tion numerical representation. Under the ''block" plan 
of voting, commissions are elected to represent the city 
as a unit. Under that plan, if 6,000 of the 10,000 
voters of a city voted for a certain candidate, that can- 
didate, having received a majority vote, would be de- 
clared elected and would represent the entire 10,000. 
In reality, he would represent only 6,000 — those who 
voted for him. Proportional representation provides 
that all 'constituencies of a reasonably large number 
shall be represented even though they are not strong 
enough to command a majority of the votes. Under a 
x Sec, 3, Charter of City of Springfield. 



THE CHARTER MOVEMENT 317 

system of proportional representation, therefore, in the 
case supposed above, each group of five hundred or a 
thousand voters, even though in the minority, would 
have some one to represent them. 1 

There are serious objections to proportional repre- 
sentation under the commission plan, but it is well 
suited to the city manager plan of city government. 
The chief objection to its use in connection with the 
commission plan is that the commission is primarily an 
administrative body and therefore should represent 
unified rather than conflicting interests. Under the city 
manager plan, however, the commission is primarily a 
deliberative body, the administrative duties being given 
to the city manager; and, for that reason, it is fre- 
quently advisable that as many different interests as pos- 
sible be represented. 

The initiative, the referendum, and the recall have 
already been discussed at considerable length in con- 
nection with the progressive movement in the state 
and there is no need therefore of giving them much 
space here. It is sufficient to point out that in commis- 
sion government or under the city manager plan where 
great authority is given to those in power it is essential 
to the preservation of democracy that there be a direct 
and sure control in the hands of the electorate. This 
control, so far as men are concerned, is given to the 
voters of commission cities by the recall ; so far as meas- 
ures are concerned, it is insured through the initiative 
and the referendum. 

The commission and city manager plans of city gov- 
ernment, together with the devices necessary to control 
them, insure to American cities all that the charter 

1 For a detailed exposition of the plan, see National Short Bal- 
lot Organization, The City Manager Plan of City Government, 
pp. 17 et seq. 



318 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

movement stands for : the simplification of government, 
the fixing of responsibility, and the constant and certain 
ability of the people to step in at any time and direct 
their own affairs. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE EFFICIENCY MOVEMENT 

Good city government, as has already been pointed 
out, does not necessarily result when cities are given 
the right to frame their own charters and regulate their 
own affairs under a constitutional home rule provision ; 
for cities may never take advantage of the opportunity, 
and, even if they do, they may provide for themselves 
a worse government than that given to them by the legis- 
lature. ]STor does good city government necessarily re- 
sult when cities adopt progressive forms of city govern- 
ment, such as the commission plan or the city manager 
plan; for, although the simplification of the structure 
of government makes it easier for citizens to control, 
they may be too ignorant or too careless to use the op- 
portunity; and although, because of the concentration 
of authority, the men in office could do a great deal of 
good, the wrong men may be chosen and do an equal 
amount of evil. Municipal home rule merely gives a 
city the chance to obtain good government by removing 
legislative interference from without; commission gov- 
ernment and the city manager plan merely increase that 
chance by making easy the removal of corruption and 
graft within. ~No guaranty of good government comes 
with either. 

There has grown up in recent years, along with the 
home rule movement and the charter movement and as 

319 



320 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

a kind of supplement to them in the work of municipal 
regeneration, a movement commonly known as the effi- 
ciency movement. The movement is incapable of any 
concise definition, and in fact of any definition at all, 
because it is itself a protest against generalizations and 
definitions, standing for the specific study and solution 
of particular problems. The fundamental ideas under- 
lying the efficiency movement are that there is no pana- 
cea for municipal ills ; that municipal home rule, com- 
mission government, and city managers are merely 
means to an end; that municipal problems depend for 
their solution upon the same scientific study and analy- 
sis that banking problems or railroad problems require ; 
that any attempt to remove inefficiency and waste must 
be continuous and not intermittent ; that honesty and 
good intentions cannot take the place of intelligence and 
ability; and finally that city business is like any other 
business and needs precisely the same kind of organi- 
zation, management, and control. 

Most cities, in reaching the final stage of the effi- 
ciency movement, pass through two preliminary stages. 
The first of these preliminary stages is a period of dis- 
organization, of slovenly and careless methods, of dupli- 
cation, inefficiency, and waste. Becoming dissatisfied 
with this state of affairs, cities in the second stage turn 
to organization and method for the correction of exist- 
ing conditions. System is apotheosized. Uniformity, 
standardization, and concentration are made the watch- 
words of municipal progress. At last, finding that 
too much system is almost as inefficient and wasteful 
as not enough, that too great dependence upon rules is 
as bad as too great dependence upon men, and that the 
difficult and technical problems of city government are 
not forever solved by the mere installation of uniform 
methods and accounts, cities enter upon the final stage 



THE EFFICIENCY MOVEMENT 321 

of the efficiency movement and prepare to solve each 
problem in the light of the peculiar circumstances sur- 
rounding it. 

In the average American city, in the absence of the 
application of the principles of the efficiency movement, 
disorganization, with resulting inefficiency and waste, 
manifests itself in every bureau and department and in a 
hundred different ways ; two men drive a street sweeper 
that could be manipulated by one ; wooden block is used 
for pavements where cobblestones would do as well or 
better; two tons of coal are used to generate the same 
amount of steam that a private corporation would gen- 
erate with one ton. Lack of space makes impossible 
anything like an adequate consideration or even enu- 
meration of these instances of bungling methods in city 
government. 

A fair idea of the character of this disorganization 
may be gained, however, by a brief consideration of 
some of the larger and more important city functions, 
such as the making of the city budget, the regulations 
governing the work and compensation of city employees, 
and the purchase of city supplies. 

Cities that have never given the matter very careful 
attention are apt to prepare and pass their budgets in a 
most inefficient and unscientific manner. Departmental 
estimates are submitted too late to permit careful analy- 
sis before the budget is passed; the methods used by 
various departments differ; no adequate system is pro- 
vided for checking up departmental estimates with prob- 
able needs ; no comparisons are made between appropria- 
tions for the current year and those for the year pre- 
ceding; department heads are not required to keep a 
record showing how the past year's money was spent. 
The process is largely one of applying to the council 
board of commissioners or board of estimate, as the case 



322 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

may be, and requesting ten, twenty or a hundred thou- 
sand dollars for operating expenses. Eequests for ap- 
propriations are all lumped together under salaries and 
supplies and granted or rejected as the revenue con- 
trolling power sees fit. The opportunities for graft, 
inefficiency, and waste under any such system of deter- 
mining a city's expenditures are apparent. Department 
heads feel no pressing need of becoming efficient them- 
selves or of encouraging efficiency on the part of those 
under their charge; for they receive their appropria- 
tions whatever happens. Appropriations granted may 
be diverted to almost any purpose because little limi- 
tation or condition is made in the grant. And, finally, 
economy is discouraged because departments are not 
held to account for the disposition of their money. 

In the case of the regulations governing the work 
and compensation of city employees, the situation is 
equally bad. Having passed the civil service examina- 
tion and obtained a position in the city service, an em- 
ployee is required to meet no further tests of fitness 
and so at the end of ten years of service may know less 
and know it worse than when he entered the service. 
!No record is kept of the time when employees begin 
and stop work nor of the amount and kind of work done 
during a stated period. No comparisons are made be- 
tween the work done by employees in one department 
and that done by employees of a corresponding rank in 
other departments; nor between the work of different 
employees doing similar work in the same department. 
Employees who show initiative, energy, and ability may 
go ahead; those who show the opposite traits, depend- 
ence, listlessness, and incompetence do not go behind; 
they stay in the department and exert a demoralizing 
influence on the work of the others. As a result of all 



THE EFFICIENCY MOVEMENT 323 

these things, slovenly, careless, wasteful, inefficient 
work is frequently the rule. 

When we turn to the matter of compensation of em- 
ployees, we find a situation substantially the same. No 
rational basis is used to fit salaries to the ability of the 
man or the importance of his position. In some cases 
the amount is traditional, in some cases dependent upon 
influence with the head of a department, in most cases 
merely arbitrary. As in the case of the amount and 
kind of work done, no effort is made to compare the 
salaries of men doing the same work in different de- 
partments, in the same departments, or in outside busi- 
ness establishments. Men doing precisely the same 
work receive widely differing salaries. Clerks who 
could not command six hundred dollars a year in the 
business world receive nine or twelve hundred through 
the protection of civil service or lack of proper system. 
Padded payrolls, swollen budgets, and high taxes, as 
well as waste and inefficiency, are the inevitable con- 
comitants of such a state of affairs. 

In the average American city that has not yet been 
touched by the efficiency movement, supplies are as 
badly managed as the city budget or the regulations gov- 
erning the work and compensation of employees. This 
bad management extends both to the purchase and the 
disposition of supplies. Each department buys its own 
supplies ; one pays fifty cents for an article ; another 
pays seventy-five, and another a dollar. Contracts are 
let without adequate notice to bidders to insure compe- 
tition, and without ascertaining the reliability of the 
successful competitor. Insufficient means are taken to 
make sure that departments order only what they need 
and receive what they order. Careful comparisons are 
not made to see whether the city is paying for its sup- 
plies more than current market prices. The same con- 



324 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

fusion prevails in connection with the use of city sup- 
plies. IsTo means are available to see that city depart- 
ments use supplies economically, for the purposes in- 
tended, and in an efficient manner. Ten tons of coal 
are used where five would do. Pea coal is used for a 
stove designed to burn egg coal, and two pounds of 
steam are generated when an outside factory would 
generate a dozen. 

Cities, appreciating the impossibility of obtaining 
good government with such disorganization and such 
methods as those just outlined, set about to effect an 
improvement. The things that seemed most needed to 
bring order out of chaos, organization out of disorgani- 
zation, and simplicity out of complexity, were system, 
standardization, and uniformity. These ends became 
and still are in many minds the open sesame to efficient 
city government. Accounting systems are worked out 
in the abstract or in connection with a particular de- 
partment and then applied to many or all. A standard 
blotter, pen-wiper, ink-eraser, automobile, fire-bucket 
and office equipment are selected and imposed upon all 
the city departments. Elaborate rules are laid down 
for letting contracts, and for ordering, receiving, and 
using supplies. In general, in a city that is passing 
through the second preliminary stage of the efficiency 
movement there is a tendency to become system-mad. 

As in the case of the first preliminary stage of the 
efficiancy movement, it will be best to consider the sec- 
ond phase of the efficiency movement in its relation to 
a few of the city's largest undertakings ; and, as before, 
the preparing and passing of the city budget, the regu- 
lations governing the work and compensation of city 
employees, and the ordering and use of city supplies 
have been chosen. 

The effect of introducing scientific methods and prin- 



THE EFFICIENCY MOVEMENT 325 

ciples into the preparation and passing of a city budget 
is to eliminate most of the defects already mentioned 
in connection with budget-making in cities that have not 
yet reached the second preliminary stage of the effi- 
ciency movement. Departmental estimates are re- 
quired to be submitted sufficiently early to permit care- 
ful analysis before being passed; the methods of pre- 
paring estimates in the different departments are made 
uniform; departmental estimates are carefully checked 
up with probable needs ; year-to-year comparisons of de- 
partmental requests are made ; and departments are re- 
quired to keep records showing how the last year's 
money was spent. 

The most important improvement made in budget- 
making, however, is the so-called segregated budget. 
Department heads no longer are allowed to ask for lump 
sum appropriations for wages and supplies; but they 
must specify in detail for what purposes they intend 
to use the money and then adhere to that disposition. 
The headings under which appropriations are requested 
and approved in the budget of iSTew York, together with 
the subdivisions, are as follows. They are given at 
length because they illustrate the extreme to which sys- 
tem is being carried. 

1. Personal Service. 

a. Salaries. 

b. Wages. 

c. Fees. 

d. Others. 

2. Supplies. 

a. Food Supplies. 

b. Forage and Veterinary. 

c. Fuel Supplies. 

d. Office Supplies. 



326 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

e. Medical and Surgical Supplies. 

f. Laundry, Cleaning and Disinfecting Sup- 

plies. 

g. Eefrigerating Supplies. 

h. Educational and Recreational Supplies, 
i. Botanical and Agricultural Supplies, 
j. Motor Vehicle Supplies, 
k. General Plant Supplies. 

3. Equipment. 

a. Office Equipment. 

b. Household Equipment. 

c. Medical and Surgical Equipment. 

d. Live Stock. 

e. Motorless Vehicles and Equipment. 

f. Motor Vehicles and Equipment. 

g. Wearing Apparel. 

h. Educational and Becreational Equipment, 
i. General Plant Equipment. 

4. Materials. 

a. Highway Materials. 

b. Sewer Materials. 

c. Building Materials. 

d. General Plant Materials. 

5. Contract or Open Order Service. 

a. General Eepairs. 

b. Motor Vehicle Eepairs. 

c. Light, Heat and Power. 

d. Janitorial Service. 

e. Transportation. 

f. Communication. 

g. General Plant Service. 

6. Contingencies. 

7. Fixed Charges and Contributions. 

a. Dept. Service. 

b. Eent. 



THE EFFICIENCY MOVEMENT 327 

c. Pensions. 

d. Insurance. 

e. Care of Dependents in Private Institutions. 

f. State Taxes. 

g. Advertising. 

To remove the inefficiency and waste that result from 
lack of organization and method in the regulations gov- 
erning the work and compensation of employees, cities 
are using the same elaborate and thorough-going devices 
that are used in connection with the budget. By intro- 
ducing system and checks, it is sought to reduce de- 
pendence upon the individual employee to a minimum 
and to compel efficiency by making all employees live 
up to definite requirements. 

The chief problem that a city encounters in its at- 
tempt to introduce efficiency, so far as the work of city 
employees is concerned, is to make sure that the city re- 
ceives the right amount and the right kind of work 
from its employees. In the absence of system, indi- 
vidual employees are apt to come and go when they 
please and the amount and kind of work depend fre- 
quently upon the mood they are in when they do it. 
By adopting a working day that begins at nine and 
ends at five instead of a working day that begins at 
nine or ten and ends at three or four, and using time 
clocks to make certain that city employees put in a full 
working day, cities are doing a great deal toward in- 
suring the performance of a reasonable amount of work. 
By introducing time sheets on which each employee 
is required to account for every fifteen or thirty minutes 
of the working day, stating precisely the work he has 
done; by comparing the work statements made by dif- 
ferent employees in the same department with those of 
employees in different departments and thus putting the 



328 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

men on their mettle, cities believe that they are in a 
fair way to secure the right kind of work. 

But the most important thing for a city in its rela- 
tions with its employees is not to secure the right kind 
and amount of work in the abstract, but the right kind 
and amount in proportion to the compensation paid. A 
city must see that it receives a fair return for money 
spent for personal service. It must not pay any posi- 
tion too much or too little. The process by which cities 
are trying to fit the amount of compensation to the 
amount and kind of work done is known as the stand- 
ardization of salaries. To enforce the proposition equal 
pay for equal work; to eliminate the demoralizing ef- 
fect upon employees that results from the suspicion 
that "pnU" and influence and not work count; to save 
for the city the money that is given to overpaid em- 
ployees — are the reforms standardization of salaries is 
intended to effect. 

The method used by the Standardization Committee 
of the Board of Estimate in Xew York City to stand- 
ardize salaries was as follows. As a first step, blanks 
were distributed among the city employees themselves. 
On these blanks employees were asked to state exactly 
the work that they were accustomed to do in connection 
with their respective positions. The statements on 
these blanks were then verified by investigations under 
the supervision of the Standardization Committee. 
Finally, the blanks containing the employees' own state- 
ments on the duties of the various city positions, veri- 
fied by independent investigators, were submitted to 
the bureau or department heads for their approval. On 
the basis of these statements, positions are being graded 
and classified and an attempt is being made to attach 
a fair salary to each. 

With regard to the purchase and disposition of sup- 



THE EFFICIENCY MOVEMENT 329 

plies, the two chief devices that many cities are intro- 
ducing to promote efficiency are a central purchasing 
agency and the standardization of supplies. The prin- 
cipal advantages claimed for the purchasing of supplies 
through a central purchasing agency are that articles 
can be bought more cheaply because they can be bought 
in larger quantities ; that more reputable firms will be 
induced to bid for contracts if the order is a large 
rather than a small one; that the duplication incident 
to the maintenance of a supply bureau with offices, staff, 
etc., in each of a number of departments is eliminated ; 
that supplies can be more readily controlled and graft 
removed ; and that the participation by all city depart- 
ments in determining what standard is to be adopted 
for an article that is used by all will result in the choice 
of a higher standard of article and one better suited to 
its purpose than if each department made its own se- 
lection. 

Standardization necessarily follows the establishment 
of a central purchasing agency. By standardization is 
meant deciding upon the supply best suited for a par- 
ticular purpose and then using that supply and no other 
for that purpose. If hospitals are using linen gauze 
that costs thirty cents a yard when gauze at ii-ve cents a 
yard would answer the purpose just as well; if em- 
ployees are feeding with egg coal a furnace designed to 
consume pea coal; if street cleaners need five-dollar 
brooms and are using brooms that cost only two; the 
principle of standardization of supplies is being vio- 
lated. 

The second preliminary stage of the efficiency move- 
ment, the stage that emphasizes uniformity, system, 
standardization, and the suppression of the individual, 
is the phase through which most cities that have taken 
up the efficiency movement are now passing. While 



330 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

the results obtained from the application of the princi- 
ples for which this phase of the movement stands are 
vastly superior to those that obtain in a city that is 
disorganized and unscientific, there are nevertheless 
several decided limitations that must be overcome before 
real efficiency is secured. 

One of these limitations of the efficiency movement 
as it exists now in many cities is an overemphasis on 
system. So many forms and so many regulations are 
prescribed that greater inefficiency and waste sometimes 
result than if there were no system at all. A city de- 
partment to obtain a pound of nails may have to go 
through so much red tape that whatever is gained for 
the city by the protection against possible graft is more 
than offset by the time and energy wasted. The letting 
of contracts may be so carefully guarded by intricate 
and minute provisions that city departments may have 
to order snow shovels in July and window screens at 
Christmas. It is notorious that the best firms are re- 
luctant to do business with cities that are oversystema- 
tized because they have to wait so long for their money. 
To protect itself from the individual the city has tied 
him up with hundreds of rules and regulations that 
frequently get in each other's way. 

A second serious limitation of the present manifes- 
tation of the efficiency movement is the craze for and 
confidence in uniformity and standardization. Uniform 
accounts, uniform records, uniform methods are worked 
out and prescribed for all departments. Salaries and 
supplies are carefully standardized. Everything is 
done to eliminate individual and special requirements. 

The following quotation from the book of a leading 
efficiency expert is worth quoting because it shows the 
extent to which this insistence upon standardization has 



THE EFFICIENCY MOVEMENT 331 

been carried and the readiness with which fundamental 
difficulties are passed over : 

"Should six departments indicate that they will 
continue to require cement, lubricating oil or eras- 
ers, the problem which next presents itself is to 
determine the best cement, the best lubricating oil 
and the best ink eraser for the respective purposes 
to which they are applied by the departments and, 
so far as possible, to eliminate special requirements 
with a view to uniformity. This result can best be 
brought about through cooperation between the 
purchasing agent and the representatives of the 
various consuming departments who have expert 
knowledge of their special needs. To avoid fric- 
tion and any possibility of favoritism it may be 
wise to have a committee of principal officials, such 
as a committee of the board of commissioners, sit 
as a commission on standardization for final ap- 
proval of the standard articles selected. The pur- 
chasing agent will naturally endeavor to secure the 
broadest uniformity, while among departments 
there will be a tendency, more or less expressed, to 
adhere to the special articles which custom and 
habit have seemed to make particularly desirable. 
"Open-minded cooperation in the consideration 
of standards should lead, without exception, to the 
adoption of a common standard throughout the 
city for every article used. A variety of consid- 
erations will be involved in the selection of stand- 
ards of which price is only one. More important 
than price is serviceability and, following close in 
order of importance, the extent to which the stand- 
ard admits of competition in bidding." 1 
*Bruere, New City Government, pp. 212-213. 



332 THE PROGKESSIYE MOVEMENT 

The writer of this passage admits that individual 
departments will show "a tendency ... to adhere to 
the special articles which custom and habit seemed to 
make particularly desirable" ; but he contends that 
''open-minded cooperation . . . should lead, without 
exception, to the adoption of a common standard 
throughout the city for every article used." The false 
assumption throughout the passage — and it is the 
false assumption of all who rely too much upon uni- 
formity and standardization — is that special require- 
ments are in the last analysis unimportant and that the 
best results can be obtained even if they are ignored. 
A uniform, standard article adopted as a compromise 
of the conflicting interests of a number of city depart- 
ments may be precisely suited to no department ; just as 
a remedy prescribed by a doctor for each of fifty pa- 
tients might do some good to all of them but the most 
good to none. Of course, it is better to specify for all 
departments particular articles or systems of accounts 
that are certain to be of some value even though not the 
greatest to each than to allow each department to pro- 
vide for itself articles and accounting systems that are 
worthless. But it is even more desirable to find for 
each department that article or that system of accounts 
that will be of most value in meeting the special re- 
quirements of that department. And this cannot be 
done by '•reconciling 7 ' conflicting needs and imposing 
the same methods and materials on all. 

What is true in the case of supplies is even truer in 
the case of men. Standardization of salaries tends to 
defeat itself. It fixes a limit which all employees must 
reach but which no employee need go beyond. Like 
civil service rules, it tends to discourage energy, in- 
itiative, and originality. Every position is defined in 
terms of the work done bv the weakest and not the 



THE EFFICIENCY MOVEMENT 333 

strongest employee who occupies that position. Char- 
acter, capacity, and personality cannot be standardized. 
It might be worth while for a city, under special cir- 
cumstances, to pay one man $5,000 for filling the same 
kind of position that other men were paid $3,000 to 
fill, solely because of the difference in the way he filled 
it. It is true that in most cases it would not pay ; it is 
true that in most cases standardization of salaries does 
work an improvement. But it is in changing most to 
all, in making the inductive hazard, that standardiza- 
tion and uniformity break down. 

A third limitation of the efficiency movement as in- 
terpreted by many cities is the insistence upon the elim- 
ination of individuality and personality. City depart- 
ments tend to become, like corporations, soulless. Effi- 
ciency is substituted for, instead of added to, character 
and moral energy. 1 So long as the efficiency movement 
proceeds upon the assumption that it is possible to pre- 
vent dishonesty, corruption, waste, graft, and inefficiency 
and conversely to obtain honesty, fidelity, efficiency, and 
capacity in the face of the opposition of employees 
themselves, by the institution of elaborate devices and 
systems, it must fail. Xo man can be made efficient 
unless he wants to be ; nor will any man continue to be 
efficient against his will. In the fields of engineering 
and business, the efficiency movement is broadening out 
to include a study of the capacity of the man as well 
as the capacity of the addressograph and steam-shovel. 
It is only by making the individual man see the relation 
of his work to the whole and the importance of his doing 
his work well, thereby motivating an employee's every 
movement, that real efficiency can be obtained. 

*For an extreme view of the importance of efficiency in per- 
sonal make-up, see Allen, Efficient Democracy, Chap. I, "The 
Goodness Fallacy.' ' 



334 THE PEOGEESSIVE MOVEMENT 

The efficiency movement, in its true sense, aims to 
remove the limitations that resnlt from a too hasty ap- 
plication and too superficial an understanding of effi- 
ciency principles. Every problem is studied and solved 
on its own basis. If better government will result, the 
efficiency movement recommends a different system of 
accounts for every department, as many different kinds 
of supplies as there are departments that use them, and 
a different salary for every city employee. Whether 
these are necessary or not cannot be answered without 
special consideration of every case. Each department 
must be considered in its relation to other departments. 
In every department the advantages of -uniformity as 
opposed to diversity must be determined in the light of 
the peculiar condition in that department. In a word, 
the efficiency movement frankly acknowledges that there 
is no royal road to efficiency: that no single reform will 
insure it ; that it comes only through continuous, ex- 
haustive, scientific study of concrete problems as they 
arise. 

One of the most important developments in connec- 
tion with the efficiency movement in cities is the rise of 
independent citizen agencies such as bureaus of mu- 
nicipal research, bureaus of public efficiency, bureaus of 
economy and efficiency, and other organizations with 
trained experts to give continuous study to city gov- 
ernment. Within the last ten years organizations of 
this kind, independent of city governments and sup- 
ported entirely by private contributions, have been es- 
tablished in Xew York, Philadelphia, Dayton, Cincin- 
nati, Milwaukee, Hoboken, and other cities. In addi- 
tion to these municipal bureaus, county bureaus of re- 
search, modeled after those in the cities, have been 
created in Wayne County, Indiana, Westchester 
County, Xew York, and Hudson County, Xew Jersey. 



THE EFFICIENCY MOVEMENT 335 

The most prominent of these organizations and the 
one after which most of the others have been patterned, 
is the Bureau of Municipal Research established in New 
York City in 1906. The purposes of the bureau, as 
stated in its articles of incorporation, are "to promote 
efficient and economical government; to promote the 
adoption of scientific methods of accounting and of re- 
porting the details of municipal business, with a view 
to facilitating the work of public officials; to secure 
constructive publicity in matters pertaining to munici- 
pal problems; to collect, classify, analyze, correlate, 
interpret and publish facts as to the administration of 
municipal government." 1 

The methods pursued by the Bureau of Municipal 
Research in carrying out the purposes of its incorpora- 
tion are chiefly three: first, to investigate city depart- 
ments with a view to locating waste and inefficiency; 
second, to make constructive suggestions as to how 
waste and inefficiency may be removed and economy 
and efficiency substituted in their stead; and, finally, 
to give publicity to its findings and suggestions. In de- 
tail, the method of operation used by the bureau is as 
follows : 

"Confer with the official responsible for the mu- 
nicipal department or social conditions to be 
studied. 

"Secure promise of cooperation, and instructions 
that direct subordinates to cooperate with the bu- 
reau's representatives. 

"Ascertain how the powers and duties (and 
other materials of research) are distributed. 

1 Six Years of Municipal Research, p. 4. Issued by the Bureau 
of Municipal Besearch, New York City. 



336 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

"Examine records of work done and of condi- 
tions described. 

"Compare function with result and cost as to 
each responsible officer, each class or employee, 
each bureau or division. 

''Verify reports by usual accounting and re- 
search methods and by conferences with depart- 
ment and bureau heads. 

"Cooperate with municipal officials in devising 
remedies so far as these can be effected through 
changes of system. 

"Make no recommendations as to personnel 
further than to present facts throwing light on the 
efficiency or inefficiency of employee or officer or 
to suggest necessary qualifications and where to 
find eligible candidates. 

"Prepare formal report to department heads, 
city executive officers and general public: (a) de- 
scription, (b) criticism, (c) constructive sugges- 
tion. 

"Support press publicity by illustrations, ma- 
terials for special articles, facts for city officials, 
editors and reporters. 

"Follow up until something definite is done to 
improve methods and to correct evils disclosed. 

"Supply freely verifiable data to agencies or- 
ganized for propaganda and for legislative, agita- 
tive or 'punitive' work. 

"Try to secure from other departments of the 
same municipality and from other municipalities 
the recognition and adoption of principles and 
methods proved by experience to promote effi- 
ciency." 1 

1 >Six Years of Municipal Research, p. S. 



THE EFFICIENCY MOVEMENT 337 

In the seven years of its existence the Bureau of 
Municipal Kesearch has done much to improve munici- 
pal government in New York. It has been largely in- 
strumental in introducing the principle of a segregated 
budget ; has helped in the reorganization of the finance 
department; has revised the accounting systems of 
many departments and by a special study of the ac- 
counting system in the department of water supply 
has been able to increase the city revenues from water 
rents about $2,000,000 a year. It has, moreover, made 
a beginning in the standardization of salaries and sup- 
plies and strongly urges a central purchasing agency in 
all city departments. As important as its work within 
the departments have been its efforts to give effective 
publicity to municipal problems. By budget and other 
exhibits, by weekly bulletins, by newspaper and maga- 
zine articles, and by attempting to simplify and clarify 
unintelligible city reports, it has brought home to citi- 
zens the fundamental facts of city administration. In 
addition, it has established and directs a National 
Training School for Public Service, the purpose of 
which is to give young men and women who desire to 
enter the field of civic or social service an opportunity to 
study city problems at first hand. 1 

Although it is true that the Bureau of Municipal Re- 
search has contributed a good deal to the cause of good 
government in New York City, it is only fair to point 
out certain limitations to which it is, of necessity, sub- 
ject. Perhaps the most serious limitation is the ina- 
bility of the bureau to deal with fundamental problems 
involving a question of policy. Questions such as the 

*In practice, because of lack of proper organization, failure 
io meet individual needs, and. a tendency to use the training 
school as a mere tool of the bureau, the training school has 
not met with the success which such an institution deserves. 



338 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

wisdom of abolishing the Board of Aldermen, control- 
ling public utility corporations by contract or franchise, 
adopting municipal ownership of subways, etc., the 
Bureau of Municipal Besearch in Xew York — and in 
fact bureaus of municipal research anywhere — do not 
and cannot touch. Their effectiveness, their ability to 
command confidence, depend upon their non-partisan- 
ship, absence of special pleading. Bureaus of munici- 
pal research present facts : they do not support them ex- 
cept to show that they are presented accurately. They 
deal with questions concerning which men disagree with 
each other because of ignorance of the facts, and attempt 
to remove that disagreement by producing the facts. 

The great problems of city government — and, in- 
deed, of all government — are questions of policy, ques- 
tions on which men disagree even when they know the 
facts and, in a sense, because they know the facts. 
Whether a department should use nineteen accounting 
forms where one will do as well; whether a city em- 
ployee should charge $1.50 for a five cent valve wheel; 
whether an employee should receive $1,800 a year for 
doing more poorly the same kind of work for which an- 
other man is paid $300; whether the revenues of the 
water department should be increased $2,000,000 a 
year by installing a new accounting system — these are 
questions of fact and detail on which men do not, as a 
rule, disagree. Whether government should be made 
more responsive to the people by removing an anti- 
quated and almost useless Board of Aldermen that costs 
the city about $150,000 in salaries alone ; whether a city 
shall own its railways or lease them on favorable terms 
to be exploited by private interests ; whether a city shall 
be dominated by a political machine or boss — are ques- 
tions of policy on which men do disagree. Questions of 
policy are more fundamentally important than questions 



THE EFFICIENCY MOVEMENT 339 

of fact; but with them the New York Bureau of Mu- 
nicipal Research in particular and bureaus of munici- 
pal research in general' have little or nothing to do. 1 
The work which bureaus of municipal research do is 
important. From the point of view of the progressive 
movement, the work which they do not do and cannot 
do is more important. Within a narrow field, a bureau 
of municipal research, by a constant and scientific study 
of specific municipal problems, can be a prime factor 
and exponent of the efficiency movement in the broad- 
est sense of that term, and can perform a service of in- 
estimable value in the struggle for good city govern- 
ment. But outside of that field it cannot go without 
confounding issues and impeding progress. 

The efficiency movement, then, the third of the four 
movements that make up the progressive movement in 
American cities, aims to sharpen the instrument of 
democracy. To change the figure, the efficiency move- 
ment repairs and adapts the machinery of government 
which the home rule movement frees, the commission 
movement simplifies, and the social movement uses in 
the interests of the people. The importance of the effi- 
ciency movement should not be underestimated nor 
should it be overestimated ; above all, its true relation to 
the fight for a broader democracy should not be lost 
sight of. 

The efficiency movement is concerned merely with 
improving government, the tool of democracy ; it has no 
part in directing its use. If government is controlled 

1 This statement is well illustrated in the case of the agitation 
in New York City, when the subway contracts for the extension 
of the city's rapid transit system were considered. Although 
these contracts involved the expenditure by the city of nearly 
$200,000,000, and, although the Bureau of Municipal Eesearch, 
because of its independent position and corps of trained men, 
could have done much to make the merits of the question clear to 
the people, the Bureau took practically no part in the discussion. 



340 



THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 



by the people, the efficiency movement becomes an 
asset. If government is controlled by interests inimical 
to the people, it is no reason for discarding the efficiency 
movement. It is an added reason vrhy the people should 
capture the improved government which the efficiency 
movement has created. 



CHAPTEK XVI 

THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 

After it has freed itself from the domination of a 
state legislature too often hostile to its best interests; 
after it has simplified its structure of government so as 
to make it more amenable to popular control; after it 
has made its government thus freed and simplified, 
efficient and economical, the city is prepared to direct 
its attention to the social phase of the progressive move- 
ment. 

In the nation, as has already been pointed out, this 
final phase of the progressive movement manifests itself 
primarily in the conservation of natural resources; in 
the states it manifests itself primarily in the conserva- 
tion of human resources by enacting laws to prevent and 
relieve social and economic distress. In the city, it 
manifests itself in an extension of community regula- 
tion and control over community problems. The con- 
viction has been growing in recent years and has been 
made stronger as city needs have become more and more 
acute and pressing with the rapid increase in popula- 
tion and the consequent congestion — that certain ac- 
tivities hitherto left partly or entirely to individual 
control and management to be conducted for private 
profit are essentially public in their nature and should 
be governed by the community in its own interest. For 
a long time this phase of the progressive movement has 

341 



342 THE PEOGBESSIVE MOVEMENT 

been ignored because of the gTeat insistence that has 
been placed upon efficiency, economy, and better mu- 
nicipal administration: and even to-day it does not re- 
ceive the attention which it deserves. But the appoint- 
ment of a com mi ttee on social welfare by the Board of 
Estimate in Xew York City, the increasing interest in 
city planning and municipal ownership, and the growing 
realization of the responsibility of a municipality for 
the recreation of its inhabitants, are indicative of a 
quickening of community consciousness in our munici- 
pal life. 

Tiie first of the responsibilities which the progressive 
movement believes that the community in a city should 
assume, in addition to those which it already bears, is 
the responsibility for a city plan. While it is not true 
that individuals have been allowed consciously to direct 
and shape a city's growth and development by means of 
a city plan, it is nevertheless strikingly true that in- 
directly the interests of private individuals have almost 
rively determined the direction and extent of cities' 
growth. By speculating in realty values, by raising 
and lowering rents, by controlling the services and 
charges of public utility corporations, by providing 
extensions to existing transit lines in accordance with 
private profit rather than the community's needs, by 
building terminals, stations, and wharves where they 
have seen lit and in a hundred other ways, private in- 
dividuals and not the community have been responsible 
foi the character and extent of the development of cities. 
All these activities that directly or indirectly determine 
or help to determine the direction, extent, and character 
of city growth, the progressive movement proposes to 
place under community control by means of a city plan. 

Broadly considered, a city plan is an intelligent pro- 
vision,, based upon a careful consideration of all the 



THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 343 

factors involved, to determine and regulate the physical 
growth and development of a city. It is not, as a false 
emphasis that has been placed upon it by many writers, 
especially the earlier ones, would make it appear, pri- 
marily concerned with making a city beautiful, al- 
though it does incidentally accomplish that result. 
Winding roadways, ornate buildings, elaborate termi- 
nals, narrow, picturesque streets, are not the vital con- 
siderations in a city plan. It is rather to promote con- 
venience in communication, security of health, and 
opportunity for recreation that the city plan is designed. 
Another erroneous impression in addition to the one 
which connects a city plan with a city beautiful, is the 
impression that a plan is made to serve for all time. 
Although it is true that in the case of certain cities, 
notably the city of Washington in our own country, that 
once-for-all plans have been made and have needed sub- 
stantially no modification, the changing conditions of 
the bustling commercial and industrial centers would 
cause any ordinary plan to be quickly outgrown. What 
is needed, therefore, is a broad planning policy that 
can be consistently followed, leaving the details to be 
attended to in the light of special circumstances as they 
arise. Finally, there is an impression abroad that city 
planning includes the correlation and guidance of all 
city activities and problems, that all agencies that pro- 
mote the city's welfare, educational, social, and moral, 
are to be combined in one comprehensive scheme to 
serve the city's best interests. In its strict sense, city 
planning includes none of these things, but is limited 
to the control and guidance of those factors that affect 
the physical growth of the city. 

The factors that are related most closely to the physi- 
cal growth of the city and which therefore are the 
factors that determine the elements of a city plan, are 



344 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

chiefly six: the natural physical characteristics of the 
city : the means of communication between the city for 
which the plan is intended and other cities ; the means 
of communication within the city ; the housing problem ; 
the health of the city's inhabitants; and, finally, the 
need of providing recreation. That the physical char- 
acteristics of a city play an important part in fixing 
upon a city plan is obvious to any who will consider the 
matter. The plan that is adapted to the city placed 
upon a plain will not do for the city that is set upon a 
hill; nor will the plan that fits an inland city or one 
situated entirely on one bank of a river do for the sea- 
port metropolis or the city which a river cuts in twain. 
Washington, Albany. St. Louis. St. Paul, Des Moines 
and Philadelphia all have individual needs that can be 
met only by individual plans. Instead of attempting 
an imitation that is bound to be fatal, instead of trying 
to adapt the so-called checkerboard plan to a city whose 
characteristics lend themselves more readily to a hub- 
and-spokes plan, city plans should use the physical 
peculiarities of cities as aids in working out a general 
scheme. 

A second factor in deteraiining the nature of the city 
plan is the means of communication and commerce be- 
tween the city for which the plan is designed and other 
cities. The route by which railroads enter a city, the 
structure — grade, subway, or elevated — that is used, the 
location of terminals and the correlation of interurban 
with intraurban transit facilities, play an important 
part in shaping a city's growth. Some cities have 
treated the railroad as an interloper and criminal and 
have compelled it to enter the city by a side street and 
back door : others have welcomed it eagerly and have set 
aside a roadway along the waterfront or through the 
heart of the best section of the citv for its use. Some 



THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 345 

cities have allowed railroads to maintain their tracks 
at grade, creating a nuisance by the noise, sparks, and 
cinders, and endangering human lives. Others have 
required railroads to use subways or elevated struc- 
tures, thereby economizing space and diminishing the 
nuisance and the possibility of accident. In most in- 
stances, however, the route and the structure have been 
decided by the railroad itself or a comparatively few 
interested property holders without any regard for its 
effect upon the community as a whole. Because of their 
influence upon the character and development of the 
district in which they are located ; because of the con- 
venience of passengers ; because of their relation to the 
entire transit system of a city, railroad terminals should 
be located in accordance with the carefully determined 
policy of a definite city plan. It is little short of absurd 
that a great railroad corporation, like the Pennsylvania 
Eailroad, should build a well-equipped station in a city 
like New York in an inaccessible part of the city where 
it must remain for years, completely detached from the 
city's rapid transit systems. "The entire apparatus for 
rail transportation in a city — street railways, rapid 
transit lines, and the so-called terminal facilities by 
which long distance railroads exchange passengers and 
freight with the local transportation services and ship- 
pers — should be developed comprehensively as one enor- 
mous complex machine in the interest of the whole com- 
munity which it serves, regardless of the subdivisions of 
agencies employed to construct and operate the 
parts. . . ." 1 Mr. Olmsted might have included as a 
part of the same comprehensive scheme, docks, wharves 
and other water terminals because in many cities the 

1 Frederick Law Olmsted, The Town-Planning Movement in 
America, Annals of the American Academy of Political and So- 
cial Science, January, 1914, p. 180. 



346 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

location of these terminals, the ease with which trans- 
shipments can be made, the coordination of docks and 
wharves with public markets, affect the general welfare 
of many cities even more than the location of railroad 
terminals. 

Closely associated with interurban commerce and 
terminal facilities as a factor in city planning are the 
intraurban means of communication and intercourse. 
Whether the city owns its transit lines or not. it is of 
the greatest importance that they be made to conform to 
a uniform city plan, because of the universal depen- 
dence upon them. The great desideratum is a single 
system of trolley lines, subways, and elevated lines ; but 
unfortunately, most cities have been so short-sighted 
in their franchise grants that there have grown up a 
number of rival, competing lines which refuse to lend 
themselves to the provisions of a coordinated city plan. 
In such cases, the work of the city planner is confined 
almost entirely to regulating extensions where effective 
supervision can be exercised to prevent the repetition of 
mistakes already made. Nothing is more certain in city 
development than that transit facilities are among the 
most potent factors in determining the direction and ex- 
tent of a city's growth ; and nothing should be made 
more certain than that those vital factors should not be 
used against the public interest by real estate speculators 
and other private individuals merely to develop por- 
tions of the city in which they are financially inter- 
ested. To bring under subjection to the community's 
interests railway lines already built, to place under sub- 
jection those about to be built, should be the policy of 
the city with a plan. Over three hundred and twenty- 
five million dollars are being spent in Xew York City 
to make extensive additions to its rapid transit system ; 
and yet the city is spending comparatively little to de- 



THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 347 

termine or control the effect those additions will have 
upon the growth and welfare of the city. The short- 
sightedness of this policy will be apparent twenty or 
thirty years hence when mistakes that are now made 
will be too costly to mend. 

The city street, common and prosaic as the term 
sounds, is as essential a part of the means of intraurban 
communication and intercourse as the subway, elevated, 
and trolley lines; and even more so, for the route of 
railways, even in the case of subways, is absolutely de- 
pendent upon it. A map of a city is a map of its 
streets. Streets are the city's arteries. Wherever they 
extend, the city's life blood flows. Where they are nar- 
row and constricted, the city's pulse is weak ; where they 
are wide and open, industry and commerce beat quick 
and strong. They are as important to the city as air 
and sunlight and should be made to serve the city as a 
whole. And yet, in spite of their importance in de- 
termining the city's social and economic welfare, prac- 
tically nothing has been done in America in planning 
streets scientifically. On the contrary, the location, 
width, and arrangement of streets have been left to 
chance or to the real estate developer or private prop- 
erty owner. The result is the worst kind of chaos and 
confusion. Although it is manifestly impossible for 
cities already established to reconstruct their streets on 
any extensive scale, it is possible for them to have in 
mind some general plan which may serve as a basis for 
making alterations and additions in the future. Such a 
plan should not be fixed and inflexible, but should be 
based upon a scientific study of the conditions in the 
individual city to which it is applied. The broad prin- 
ciple that should guide a city in making its street layout 
is the need of providing for citizens all over the city 
easy, direct, and quick means of communication. To 



348 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

that end, there should be several main arteries of traffic 
connecting railroad terminals, ferries, public buildings 
and the more important business centers of the city. If 
these main arteries are provided, the less important side 
streets can be used in part for recreational purposes. 
The city street in crowded districts is the children's 
playground ; 1 and where traffic is not heavy, broad side- 
walks might be laid on which children might be per- 
mitted to play ; all the more so, since if increased traffic 
necessitates a wider roadway the space appropriated 
for sidewalks could readily be restored. 

Xo other factor enters more directly into a city plan 
than the housing problem, and in no other field is city 
planning expected to show more definite results. While 
it is the aim of the city plan to give to as many citizens 
as possible sanitary houses advantageously situated, it 
must be remembered that a certain portion of the popu- 
lation in all cities will, for a long time to come, be so 
poor that they will be unable to live in anything better 
than the tenements in the crowded districts. Most of 
the legislation on housing has aimed to eliminate the 
conditions that exist among the poorest classes; and 
little attention has been given to the problem of pro- 
viding better houses for the more numerous middle 
classes. A first step that is frequently taken by Euro- 
pean cities to promote better housing conditions is to 
separate the business, manufacturing, and residential 
sections by dividing the cities into zones. Such a 
scheme, although it may help to improve conditions, is 
bound to fail ultimately, however, unless the broad 
economic and social factors that determine the distribu- 
tion of the city's population are taken into considera- 

1 See Jane Addams, The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets, 
for an excellent exposition of the influence of the street on child 
life. 



THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 349 

tion. These factors are accessibility to work, accessi- 
bility to recreational centers, and the cost of the 
materials that go into the home. 1 "The distribu- 
tion of industrial, commercial and business centers, the 
distribution of parks, playgrounds, schools, theaters, 
museums, etc., contribute to the economic and social 
environment which determines to a very considerable 
extent the cost of a home and rents. The city plan 
and the distribution of the factors constituting the 
economic and social environment as expressed in terms 
of facilities, time, and cost of transit, determine the non- 
creative land values of a community which are an im- 
portant factor in housing reform and which a carefully 
developed community plan may reduce to a minimum. 
By reducing the need for transit facilities through a 
proper adjustment and distribution of the factors that 
are essential to the economic and social life of the people 
and by providing an evenly distributed municipal tran- 
sit system . . . the enhancement of land values may be 
checked and congestion with its attending evils 
avoided." 2 Having done what it can by means of a 
city plan to promote better housing conditions through 
the control of the first two factors, there remains to be 
considered the question of actual cost. This difficulty 
can be met by municipal tenements and homes ; by co- 
operative building and loan associations ; or by the erec- 
tion of model houses by private individuals. It is doubt- 
ful whether much relief can be expected from the model 
tenements and model settlements conducted by private 
enterprise. In the first place, the movement is too 
spasmodic and the houses built too few to accommodate 

1 See Carol Arondovici, Housing and the Housing Problem, 
Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science, 
January, 1914, p. 4. 

2 Ibid., pp. 4-5. 



350 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

any considerable portion of the population ; and, in the 
second place, the charges are usually beyond the reach 
of the poorer and even the lower middle classes. The 
solution of the housing problem, so far as a solution is 
possible, will undoubtedly come through community 
action working through a city plan. 

A fifth factor that enters into the making of the 
city plan is the need of protecting the community health 
by regulating the community growth. One way in 
which a city plan can help in protecting the co mm unity 
health is by providing for an efficient system of waste 
removal. Because of the varying conditions of size, 
population, location, etc., no one plan can be devised 
that would answer the needs of any large number of 
cities: but there are nevertheless certain broad prin- 
ciples that should be kept in mind. The first is that a 
general plan for a sewage system should be prepared 
in advance and followed as closely as possible. The 
second is that every precaution should be taken in dis- 
posing of sewage and other filth that disease is not 
spread. If sewage is run into bays or rivers, pollution 
should be carefully guarded against; and if disposal 
plants are used, care should be taken to see that they are 
placed in those parts of the city where they will be most 
serviceable as a part of the sewage system and at the 
same time cause the least nuisance. Finally, it should 
be remembered that the whole problem is a costly one 
and that no expense should be spared in working out 
and adhering to a plan that will protect the health of 
the city. 

Another way in which the city plan can help in pro- 
tecting the community's health is by insuring proper 
light and air in streets and houses, through the limita- 
tion of the height and width of buildings. Although 
conditions in this countrv are much different and justify 



THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 351 

a more intensive use of land in our large cities, it is 
nevertheless notable that the Woolworth building in 
New York, the highest in the United States, is over six 
hundred feet higher than any inhabited building in 
London, Paris, and Berlin. Only recently have Ameri- 
can cities come to appreciate the tremendous social im- 
portance of regulating the size of structures erected 
along their streets. The standards usually employed in 
fixing a reasonable height and width for a building are 
the width of the street and the size of the lot on which 
it is built. No arbitrary limit need be fixed provided 
the regulation results in fairness to all. Mr. Lawson 
Purdy, of New York City, has suggested that a fair 
test to be applied to determine the height and width 
which should be allowed in a given area would be to ask 
what would result if all the houses in that block were 
of the same height and width. At all events, the prob- 
lem is one that calls for community control. The indi- 
vidual who owns a single lot between two tall skyscrap- 
ers is helpless unless he wishes to and can afford to 
erect a similar structure on his own property, or the 
community intervenes to protect him. 

A sixth and final factor that enters into the making of 
the city plan is the need of providing community recrea- 
tion by means of parks, museums, libraries, etc. With 
the general policy of recreation, the city plan has noth- 
ing to do ; it merely aims to place the means of recrea- 
tion in the places where they will do most good. In the 
case of parks, the first need is to have as many parks as 
possible ; and the second to have them located most ad- 
vantageously. One fifty-acre park situated in a remote 
section of the city or even in the heart of the city will 
be infinitely less valuable for recreational purposes than 
a hundred half-acre parks scattered throughout the city. 
The importance of providing for parks in advance where 



352 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

they are going to be most needed cannot be overesti- 
mated. A small bit of land in the heart of a district 
infested by gangsters and thugs cost the city of Xew 
York over $300,000, although it could have been bought 
for a small fraction of that amount had the need for it 
been foreseen. And yet it was worth all that was paid 
for it and more because of the quiet transformation 
which it worked in the entire surrounding neighborhood. 
So far as the city plan is concerned with public build- 
ings, such as museums, libraries, etc., it should provide 
that as far as is possible they be distributed throughout 
the city ; and where such distribution is not feasible, as 
in the case of art museums, etc., that they be readily 
accessible from all parts of the city. 

A second extension of community activity proposed 
by the progressive movement in the city is community 
ownership and operation of public or community utili- 
ties. The question of municipal ownership has been dis- 
cussed so fully and so often that it is unnecessary here 
to present any elaborate arguments for or against it. 
The facts concerning the advantages and disadvantages 
of public ownership, the experience of cities that have 
experimented with it, have been compiled and inter- 
preted. The important question for cities to decide 
now is not whether municipal ownership is theoretically 
good or bad ; but rather whether, in the light of this in- 
formation and practical experience, they wish to try it ; 
and, if so, how they may put it into effect. The real 
objections to municipal or community ownership of pub- 
lic utilities to-day, therefore, are not the academic and 
theoretical objections often raised, but the practical 
difficulties of putting it into actual operation. 

Before passing on to a discussion of these difficulties, 
it may be well to call attention to two considerations, 
which from the point of view of the progressive move- 



THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 353 

ment, constitute unanswerable arguments in favor of 
community control of all gas, water, electricity, and 
transit corporations. In the first place, these corpora- 
tions depend upon special privileges granted to them by 
the public. They frequently have the right to condemn 
land so that they may have a right of way ; and they lay 
and keep their tracks, pipes, mains, and wires in the 
public streets. Every grant given to them is at the pub- 
lic's expense. In the second place, the public is abso- 
lutely dependent upon these corporations for the services 
which they render. ISTo individual in a city can do 
without gas, electricity, water, or transportation any 
more than he can do without light and air. Nor will it 
do to say that the individual can command efficient ser- 
vice at reasonable rates by fostering competition. Pub- 
lic utility corporations are usually monopolies and 
rightly so. It would be wasteful and inefficient to have 
five or six different companies with as many different 
sets of equipment supplying gas, water, electricity, and 
transportation to a city. Monopolies, therefore, are es- 
sential; and because they are monopolies and deal in 
public necessities through the use of public property, 
they are proper subjects of community ownership and 
control. 

The practical difficulties in the way of community 
ownership are chiefly four : legal, contractual, financial, 
and governmental. Legally many cities are without 
the power to adopt a policy of municipal ownership be- 
cause they are without the right of municipal home 
rule. Before New York, Boston, Philadelphia and in 
fact nine out of ten cities in the United States receive 
permission from the legislatures of their respective 
states or are given the power under a constitutional 
home rule amendment, all discussions as to the desira- 
bility of municipal ownership, so far as they are con- 



354 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

cerned, are purely academic. That the states will give 
this right to their cities is at present not very likely. 
Beyond the fact that states are on the whole reluctant to 
allow cities any latitude in the conduct of their own 
affairs, many states have entered upon a policy of regu- 
lation through state commissions and similar agencies 
which they are unlikely to abandon: and even in some 
states, where municipal home rule is in force, the in- 
terpretation placed upon its provisions by the courts 
have greatly curtailed the city's powers. 

Even if the city did obtain the permission of the state 
to buy up public utility corporations, there would re- 
main the difficulty of obtaining the consent of the corpo- 
rations to sell. Many of these corporations have per- 
petual franchises; and in almost every case, the fran- 
chise extends over a long period of years. These 
franchises have been repeatedly held to be property even 
where they have been granted for nothing, and courts 
have often valued them at many millions. Since con- 
fiscation of these franchises is impossible, the only 
course open to cities that wish municipal ownership is 
to buy relief from the obligations which the states have 
imposed upon them. Even in the case of short-term 
franchises, the amount of money required for this pur- 
pose would be formidable ; while in the case of long- 
term and perpetual franchises where the purchase price 
would have to be estimated on the present worth of 
future earnings for scores of years, it would be prac- 
tically prohibitive. Moreover, many cities, notably 
Xew York and Chicago, are already committed to a 
policy of regulation through franchise agreements. 
Thus in Xew York City, the Interborough Eapid Tran- 
sit Company operates the subways under a definite 
agreement as to profits, etc. To change this policy, to 
relieve itself from all the contractual obligations which 



THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 355 

it has assumed, is not the least of the difficulties that 
confront the city that would own its public utilities 
corporations. 

A third difficulty in the way of municipal ownership 
is the financial difficulty. The impracticability of rais- 
ing funds to buy up the franchises of public utility 
corporations has already been touched upon; there is, 
however, another phase of the difficulty which remains 
to be considered, and that is the limitations placed upon 
the power to borrow money. There is in many states a 
debt limit imposed upon cities fixed usually at an 
amount equal to a certain percentage of the assessed 
valuation of the city's real estate. In New York City, 
for example, the city may borrow money to the extent of 
ten per cent, of the assessed valuation of the real prop- 
erty in the city. As a result of this restriction, New 
York City is within a few hundred thousand dollars of 
its borrowing margin and probably could not raise the 
money necessary for municipal ownership were all the 
other difficulties removed. Unless the debt limit is ex- 
tended or removed or the bonds issued for the purchase 
of public utility corporations exempted from the debt 
limit before they are self-sustaining, if it is reasonable 
to expect that they will become self-sustaining, the 
hands of most cities, so far as municipal ownership is 
concerned, will be tied. 1 

A final difficulty in the way of municipal ownership 
of public utilities is the governmental one. By govern- 
mental difficulty is meant the objection most commonly 
raised against the assumption by the government of any 
private enterprise, that it is impossible to eliminate 

1 The constitution of New York provides for exemption from 
the debt-limit of " bonds issued to provide the supply of water." 
There is no reason why such exemption should not cover other 
public utilities as well. 



356 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

graft, corruption, inefficiency, and dishonesty from any 
public enterprise. In making this objection to munici- 
pal ownership, just as in making objection to so many 
other public enterprises, the defenders of ' fc stand-pat- 
ism" fail to appreciate the true condition of affairs 
under private management. The record of stolen fran- 
chises, corruption and special influence in politics, in- 
adequate service, and the use of extensions to increase 
realty values rather than to supply service, is a long 
one ; and were it not for the most rigid kind of control, 
by commission and otherwise, the same evils would con- 
tinue unmitigated to-day. As it is, the service, rates 
and general operation of public utilities in most of the 
cities of the United States do not furnish great cause 
for pride. Whether municipal ownership and operation 
will improve conditions in any particular city it is 
impossible to say; the only way to determine is to try 
it. One thing is certain and that is that it has been 
tried in many cities here and abroad in connection with 
various public utilities with marked success. There is 
no good reason why public operation should be synony- 
mous with corruption and inefficiency; and with the 
coming of simpler and more direct government ; of new 
ideals and standards of service; and the increasing 
prominence of the city expert, there is every ground for 
believing that it will soon cease to be so. 

The way to overcome these four practical difficulties 
in the way of municipal ownership, though not easy, is 
very clear. Cities must insist upon the right to be 
free — free to determine their own policy with regard 
to community utilities. To remove the difficulties that 
arise out of existing contractual obligations, cities must 
either buy franchises outright ; or make a special agree- 
ment with franchise owners whereby a portion of the 
company's earnings may be set aside as a fund for the 



THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 357 

amortization of the franchise value, imposing upon 
those who refuse to accept such an agreement a heavy 
franchise tax, denying them extensions, and other priv- 
ileges ; and, finally, in some cases by entering into active 
competition with the public utility corporations. To 
make municipal ownership possible financially, the debt 
limit must be extended or removed so far as public utili- 
ties are concerned. And, finally, simpler forms of city 
government should be introduced ; the new tendency in 
the direction of greater efficiency and economy in city 
service should be encouraged; and above all, citizens 
should be educated to the point where they expect and 
demand the highest type of officials and service in the 
management of municipal affairs. 

In addition to community control of community 
growth and development and community ownership and 
operation of community utilities, the progressive move- 
ment in the city proposes community use of community 
values for community purposes. The theory upon which 
this proposal of the progressive movement is based is 
the theory upon which the argument for the single tax 
rests ; i. e., that the increase in the value of real estate 
results from the activity of a community in building 
up the neighborhood in which it is situated and does 
not depend upon any one individual owner. To allow 
the property owner who has done nothing but invest his 
money in land and then await the efforts of others to 
develop it, to reap the profits of others, is, in the opinion 
of those who support the single tax, unfair and even 
dishonest. Their proposal is, therefore, that the ben- 
efits of increases in land values be taken from private 
individuals and given to the community as a whole, in 
order that the income thus derived may be devoted to 
defraying the expenses of government. The imposition 
of such a single tax would enable a city not only to 



358 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

abolish all other forms of taxation and still have ample 
funds to run the government : but also, according to 
Henry George, the most prominent advocate of the 
single tax in the United States, practically eliminate 
poverty and distress. 

Because of the obvious practical difficulties involved 
in taking all land in a city from private individuals and 
turning it over to be managed by the community as a 
whole, the single tax, in its original form, is very rarely 
adopted. There have grown up. however, several modi- 
fications of it, all of which tend to accomplish the same 
general end. One of these modifications is seen in the 
proposition that is now frequently made to place a 
larger tax proportionately upon land than upon build- 
ings. In the larger cities, this proposition seems very 
reasonable inasmuch as buildings are of relatively little 
value and it is the situation of the property and not 
what is on it that counts. In Xew York State, the pro- 
posal to shift more of the burden of taxation upon land 
has found definite expression in the past few years in 
bills presented to the legislature the object of which is 
to halve the tax rate on buildings. 1 The ends which the 
advocates of these measures have in mind are chiefly 
two : in the first place they expect to increase the city's 
revenues by increasing the tax on land ; and in the sec- 
ond place, to encourage a wider distribution of popula- 
tion and a relief of congestion by making it profitable 
to build more buildings and thus bring about a lowering 
of rents. It is doubtful whether the plan proposed will 
accomplish either of these two results. In the first 
place, if the revenues of the city are to remain the same, 
the amount of income lost by removing the tax on build- 
ings must be supplied by increasing the tax on land: 

1 The latest of these bills, the Herrick-Schaap bill, was pre- 
sented to the state legislature in 1914. 



THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 359 

and it is likely that such an increase, because it will 
result in diminished land values, will tend to diminish 
the tax on land values and thus defeat its own purposes. 
As to the second object of the advocates of the plan; i. e., 
the lowering of rents and the relief of congestion, it is 
probable that here, too, the results that are expected will 
not be wholly attained. If the tax on buildings is re- 
duced or removed, the tendency will be to start a boom 
in buildings that will cause an increase in the prices of 
building materials and start in a reaction toward fewer 
buildings. On the other hand, the increase in the tax 
upon land and the fact that it is accessibility to busi- 
ness and social centers that determines almost entirely 
where people live, will cause a more intensive use of the 
land and consequently greater congestion in the crowded 
parts of the city than there is at present. Neither as an 
attempt to increase the city revenues nor as an attempt 
to lower rents does this proposal to halve the tax on 
buildings promise any great success. 1 

A second modification of the single-tax idea that is 
frequently suggested is a tax on the increment or realty 
values as determined by the increase in assessed valua- 
tion or by the prices which it brings in the market at 
successive sales. In its report to the Board of Estimate 
and Apportionment in New York City on January 11, 
1913, the Commission on New Sources of City Rev- 
enues recommended such a tax in the following lan- 
guage: "We, therefore, recommended an increment 
tax of one per cent, per annum to be perpetual upon all 
increments of land values as shown by comparison with 
the assessed valuations of the year 1912 . . . and to 
be in addition to the general tax levied upon all real 

1 See Taxation of Beal Estate Values, by Delos F. Wilcox, 
Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science, 
January, 1914, pp. 34 et seq. 



360 THE PKOGKESSIVE MOVEMENT 

estate. If, for instance, the assessed value of a piece 
of land rises from $100,000 in 1912 to $110,000 in 
1913, the owner would be called upon to pay the general 
tax, say, at the rate of 1.83, which would amount to 
$2,013, and in addition the increment tax of one per 
cent, of $10,000 or $100." As a device for giving to 
the community definitely the increment in realty value 
which the community creates, this modification of the 
single tax is much more direct and effective than the 
first plan discussed. It is, however, open to serious 
objection because of the method by which the incre- 
ment, on which the tax is to be based, is found. By 
imposing a tax on the assessed valuation of property 
from year to year, a city is taking an unfair advantage 
of the property owner and is taxing something as in- 
definite and changeable as stock values. If the incre- 
ment were determined by taking the average increase 
over a period of years, or if it were determined by com- 
paring the price paid at two successive sales, the tax 
would be much more equitable. So far as the tax on 
increments relates to the problem of housing and con- 
gestion, it involves an entirely new set of considera- 
tions, which it is not necessary to discuss here. The 
important thing for the progressive movement in con- 
nection with increments is that a fair and just method 
be used to insure to the community a reasonable portion 
of the increase in property value which it helps to 
create. 

A final extension of the activity of the community 
advocated by the progressive movement is greater com- 
munity control over recreation and pleasure. The need 
of a larger community control in this direction arises 
out of the fact that in the city, because of the peculiar 
industrial conditions under which men and women are 
forced to work and live, the insistence upon excitement 



THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 361 

and intense pleasure is more pronounced and more 
dangerous than anywhere else. The farmer or the mer- 
chant in the country town performing a variety of in- 
teresting activities under agreeable circumstances finds 
almost complete satisfaction in his work and looks upon 
his leisure hours as an opportunity to rest and re- 
cuperate. The clerk in the office, closely confined to a 
few routine duties in unpleasant surroundings, the girl 
in the sweatshop or factory performing monotonous 
mechanical actions in the midst of the most depressing- 
influences, of necessity look upon work as drudgery and 
seek their real existence in the hours when they are 
free. In proportion as their work is confining, nerve- 
racking, and tense, their desire for excitation, stimula- 
tion, and strong sensation is stronger. Recreation and 
amusement become the vital factor in people's lives no 
less necessary than food or drink. 

The agencies that exist in most cities to meet this 
craving for recreation and amusement are at present 
almost entirely private individuals whose sole aim is 
profit. Recreational facilities are commercialized. The 
moving-picture show, the theater, the dance hall, the 
saloon, and the brothel are all organized on a commer- 
cial basis to take advantage of the intense seeking after 
pleasure and to make money out of it. Under such a 
system, pleasure inevitably becomes vice ; and gambling, 
drunkenness, and prostitution, the three great evils of 
city life, become widespread. 1 Cities accept these 
evils as necessary features of city life, and it is only 
when the organized panderers to depravity and degen- 
eracy become so bold and obnoxious as to be a public 

x For a powerful treatment of this whole question, see chapter 
on ''Control of Leisure" in The American City, by Delos F. 
Wilcox. 



362 THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT 

nuisance that the community as such feels called upon 
to intervene. 

It is the conviction of those who believe in com- 
munity provision for the recreation of a city's inhabi- 
tants, that while all vice and crime cannot be removed 
by any single device, the evil results, especially those 
that are due to a conscious appeal to the lower instincts 
by commercial agencies can be greatly reduced by in- 
telligent community action. To take the place of 
tawdry, cheap moving-picture shows catering to the 
taste for the sensational and the exciting, the city can 
supply municipal moving-picture theaters where there 
may be exhibited films that will have all the attractive- 
ness and none of the dangers of those exhibited now. In 
place of the saloon or the street corner as the meeting- 
place of men and boys and the breeding place of gang- 
sters and rowdies, the city can open up the schools to 
serve as club-rooms and gymnasiums. In place of the 
dance hall, too often but an adjunct to the saloon and 
brothel and the means of securing recruits to the con- 
stantly depleting ranks of white slaves, the city can pro- 
vide municipal dance-halls conducted under proper su- 
pervision and giving opportunity to young men and 
young women for social intercourse of a helpful, stimu- 
lating kind. The agencies for carrying on this work are 
already at hand : the school, which now stands idle many 
hours in the day and many months in the year, the 
parks, the recreation piers, might all be pressed into 
service. But even if the agencies were not at hand, 
the money spent by a city in wresting recreation from 
private agencies and placing it under the direction of 
the community could not be more profitably invested. 
In the city, life is pleasure, and pleasure is life. If 
the American city fails, it will fail not because of the 
work its people do or the places in which they live, but 



THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT 363 

because of the pleasures which they seek. It is vice, 
high living, and deterioration of moral fiber more than 
anything else that destroy cities and democracies. 

This, then, is the program of the progressive move- 
ment in the city so far as the last, or social phase, is 
concerned. To extend the community's activities; to 
provide community control of the community growth 
and development by means of a city plan; to provide 
community ownership and operation of community 
utilities; to provide community use of community val- 
ues for community purposes; and, finally, to provide 
community regulation of community recreation ; — these 
are the extensions of the functions of government for 
which the progressive movement in the city stands. 
Freed from the state legislature, simplified in its struc- 
ture, perfected in its operation, vitalized and enlarged 
in the scope of its activities, city government will be 
well equipped to meet the needs of its citizens and to 
fulfill its mission of democracy. 



INDEX 



Adams, John, 12. 

Addams, Jane, 85. 

Alabama, 165; child labor in, 246; 
law providing for commission 
government in, 286. 

Albany, 344. 

Aldrich, Senator, 20. 

Amendments to federal constitu- 
tion, theoretical difficulty of ob- 
taining, 144; practical difficulty 
of obtaining, 144-145; seventeen 
amendments analysed, 145; 
plan to simplify, 147. 

American party, 28. 

American Tobacco Company case, 
criticism of, 128. 

Anti-Monopoly party, 28. 

Arizona, 38; recall in, 242-243; 
municipal home rule in, 287; 295. 

Australian method of preferential 
voting, 200. 



B 



Baldwin, Simeon, 42. 

Banking system, defects of former, 
135-137; defects of former sys- 
tem corrected, 137-139. 

Bank reserves, concentration of, 
135-136; under Glass-Owen Law, 
138. 

Belmont, August, 42. 

Bill of Rights, 145. 

Bimetalism, issue on which pro- 
gressive movement in Demo- 
cratic party began, 26 ; legislation 
on, 29; act of 1792, 29; Gresh- 
am's law and, 30; act of 1834, 
30; act of 1853, 30; "crime of 
73," 31; Bland- Allison Act, 31 



Sherman Silver Purchase Act, 
32; rejected, 34; in campaign of 
1900, 35. 

Birmingham, 286. 

Bland- Allison Act, 31. 

Board of Estimate and Apportion- 
ment, 328, 342, 359. 

Boston, charter of, 234, 283. 

Bryan, William J., 26; 28; plans to 
capture Democratic party, 32; 
campaign of 1896, 33-34; dis- 
credited, 34; campaign of 1900, 
35; campaign of 1904, 36; cam- 
paign of 1908, 37; introduces 
resolution against special inter- 
ests in Democratic National 
Convention, 1912, 42; vote for, 
in Democratic National Conven- 
tion, 1912, 42; transfers support 
from Clark to Wilson, 43; rela- 
tion to progressive movement, 
45. 

Bryce, James, on U. S. Senate, 154. 

Buffalo, 286. 

Bureau of Corporations, created as 
part of Department of Commerce 
and Labor, 49; investigates 
Standard Oil Company and 
American Tobacco Company, 
50; reports of, 50; prototype of 
Interstate Trade Commission, 
131. 

Bureau of Municipal Research, 
cities having, 334; counties hav- 
ing, 334; in New York City, 
335-339; limitations of, 337-339. 



Cable companies, not included un- 
der the original Interstate Com- 



365 



366 



INDEX 



merce Act, 116; placed under 
Interstate Commerce Commis- 
sion, 119. 

California, 54; Johnson's work in, 
63-67; 160; mothers' pensions in, 
254-255; classification of cities 
in, 286; municipal home rule in, 
287; 289-290. 

Cannon, Joseph, tariff revision, 73; 
attempt to curtail powers as 
speaker, 73 ; excluded from com- 
mittee on rules, 74; resolution to 
remove, defeated, 75; influence 
over committees of House, 155. 

Cedar Rapids, 301. 

Census Bureau, quoted, 246. 

Central bank, 140. 

Central purchasing agency, 329. 

Central reserve cities, 136. 

Checks and balances type of city 
charter, 303; 305. 

Chicago, 17; 29; 41; 42; 45; 80; S4; 
136; 193; 277; 354. 

Child Labor, law regulating, in 
Iowa, 61; extent of, 245—246; 
causes of, 246; effects of, 247; 
regulation of, 248-253; age-lim- 
its, 249; hours of labor, 249; sex, 
250; character of employment, 
250-251; inspection of, 252; 273. 

Cincinnati, 334. 

Circuit Court, interpretation of 
Sherman Act by, 127. 

City manager plan, 300; advan- 
tages of, 309; Galveston charter 
and, 309; in Staunton, 309-310; 
in Sumter, 311-312; in Dayton, 
313; in Springfield, Ohio, 314; 
317; 319. 

City plan, need of, 342; definition 
of, 342-343; factors that deter- 
mine, 343-352. 

City streets, city plan and, 347- 
348. 

Clark, Champ, candidate for nom- 
ination for President, 40; wins in 
primary elections, 41; vote for, 
in Democratic National Con- 



vention, 1912, 42; Tammany 
Hall votes for, 43. 

Cleveland, need of short ballot in, 
206-207. 

Cleveland, Grover, 33; 153. 

Coal mines, ownership by railroads 
in, 117; ownership in, by rail- 
roads, forbidden, 119. 

Colorado, corrupt practices act in, 
205—206; mothers' pensions in, 
254-255; municipal home rule 
in, 287; 292-293. 

Commission government, in Iowa, 
61; in Illinois, 235; 300; funda- 
mental features of, 302-307; 
weaknesses of, 307-309; 317; 
319. 

Commission on Industrial Rela- 
tions, 172. 

Commission on New Sources of 
Revenue (New York City), 359- 
360. 

Committees of Congress, power of, 
154; Speaker Cannon and, 155; 
election of, 155: method of con- 
ducting business by, 155-156. 

Common law defenses, 266. 

Conservation of natural resources, 
defined by Gifford Pinchot, 51; 
made national issue by Roose- 
velt, 52; opposed by Congress, 
53-54; in California, 67; 163; 
Secretary of Interior quoted on, 
178-179. 

Corporations, early investigation 
of, 20; Sherman Act passed. 21; 
issue in campaign of 1900, 35; 
progressive movement in Repub- 
lican party and, 46; special in- 
fluence of, opposed by Governor 
Cummins, 61; law in Iowa regu- 
lating issue of stock by, 61; 
domination of national govern- 
ment by, 113; federal control of 
industrial corporations, 124; fed- 
eral policy toward industrial and 
railroad corporations contrasted, 
124-125; corporations, banking, 



INDEX 



367 



134; influence on judges, 238- 
239. 

Corrupt practices acts, 23 ; in New 
Jersey, 40; in Iowa, 61 ; 201-206; 
limitations on expenditures by 
candidates, 202-204; in Wiscon- 
sin, 202-203; in Oregon, 203 
state aid to candidates, 204 
Oregon statute quoted, 204-205 
Wisconsin statute, 205 ; state aid 
in Colorado, 205 ; defects in Col- 
orado statute, 205-206; as aid in 
electing good men, 213; 273; 300; 
315; 316; in Springfield charter, 
316. 

Country bank towns, 136. 

Crime of '73, 31. 

Cummins, Albert, governor of 
Iowa, 60; reforms of, 61 ; opposes 
revision of tariff, 73. 

Currency, inelasticity of, under 
former banking system, 137; 
elasticity of, under Glass-Owen 
Law, 139. 



D 



Davis, Katherine B., 193. 

Dayton, flood in, 184; adopts city 
manager plan, 313; charter pro- 
visions of, 313-314; bureau of 
municipal research in, 334. 

Democratic Federation, 38. 

Democratic party, 4; early history 
of, 12-13; view of slavery, 13; 
at close of Civil War, 13 ; periods 
of progressive movement in, 27; 
characterized as corrupt, 28; 
campaign of 1896, 34; campaign 
of 1900, 35; campaign of 1904, 
36; campaign of 1908, 36; pro- 
gressive elements regain control 
of, 38; in Oklahoma, 38; in 
Arizona, 38; in New Jersey, 38- 
39; primary campaign of 1912, 
40; issues of, in 1912 campaign, 
41; national convention of 1912, 
42; campaign of 1912, 43; future 



of, 44; national convention of, 
in 1912, 83; vote of, in 1912, 86; 
attitude on tariff, 173. 

Denver, home rule in, 292; 299. 

Department of Commerce, created, 
49; 131; investigations by, 172. 

Des Moines plan, adopted, 61 ; 301 ; 
departments under, 306 ; 344. 

Devine, Edward T., 256. 

Dillon, Judge, quoted, 280. 

Direct election of President and 
Vice-President, advocated by 
progressive movement, 151; ad- 
vantages of, 152-153. 

Direct election of U. S. senators, 
advocated by Governor H. S. 
Pingree, 58; resolution favoring, 
in Iowa, 61; in California, 66; 
in Oregon, 67; favored by Pro- 
hibition party, 104; constitu- 
tional amendment on, 146; pref- 
erential election and, 146 ; effects 
of, 153-154. 

Direct legislation, 215; 228. 

Direct primaries, 21; 23; in New 
Jersey, 40; in Wisconsin, 56; 
advocated by Governor H. S. 
Pingree, 58; in Iowa, 61; in New 
York, 63; in California, 64; 66; 
in Oregon, 67; need of, 197; de- 
fects in existing, 198-201; as aid 
in electing good men, 213; 243; 
244; 273. 

Down River bill, 226. 



Eaton, Allen H., quoted, 224. 

Efficiency movement, 279; stages 
of, 320-321; budget-making in 
first stage of, 321 ; work and com- 
pensation of employees in first 
stage of, 322-323; supplies in 
first stage of, 323-324; budget- 
making in second stage of, 324- 
328; work and compensation of 
employees in second stage of, 
327-328 ; supplies in second stage 



368 



IXDEX 



of, 329; limitations of, 330-333; 
339;340. 

Election to specific office, 306; 307. 

Election at random, 306. 

Employers' Liability Act, in Xew 
Jersey, 40; in Iowa, 61; in Cal- 
ifornia, 67; in U. S., 168; First 
Employers' Liability Act, 168; 
provisions of U. S. act, 169; 
First Employers' Liability Act 
declared unconstitutional by Su- 
preme Court, 169-170; Second 
Employers' Liability Act, 170; 
constitutionality of Second Em- 
ployers' Liability Act upheld by 
Supreme Court, 171; defects of 
Second Employers' Liability Act 
171; 266; modification of com- 
mon-law defenses by, 267-268; 
defects of, 268-269. 

Employers' Liabilitv cases, 170; 
171. 

English Parliament, 234. 

Evarts. Senator, 20. 

Express companies, not included 
under original Interstate Com- 
merce Act, 116; placed under 
Interstate Commerce Commis- 
sion, 119. 



F 



Factory- regulation and inspection, 
need of, 261; problems of, 261- 
262; lack of adequate, 263-264; 
273. 

Federal constitution, reasons for 
restricting powers of, 5-7; de- 
mocracy in, 9; interpretation of, 
23; theoretical difficulty of ob- 
taining amendments to, 144; 
practical difficulty of obtaining 
amendments to, 144-145; seven- 
teen amendments to analysed, 
145; plan to simplify present 
plan of amending, 147. 

Federalist party, 12. 

Federal Reserve Board, 137. 



Financial operations, not controlled 
by Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission, 118. 

Floods, damage caused by, 184; 
government intervention to pre- 
vent, 184-185. 

Fourteenth amendment, 23; 145; 
160. 

Free passes, law forbidding, in 
Iowa, 61; not forbidden by orig- 
inal Interstate Commerce Act, 
117. 

Free silver. See Bimetalism. 

Free Soil Democrats, 17. 



G 



Galveston, commission govern- 
ment in, 300; 309. 

General acts, 284. 

George, Henry, 358. 

Gilbertson, H. S., 308. 

Glass-Owen Law, 135; corrects de- 
fects of former banking svstem, 
137-139. 

Goodnow, Frank J., 280. 

Government ownership, 121; ob- 
jections to, 121-123; of indus- 
trial corporations, 133. See 
Municipal ownership. 

Granger cases. 19. 

Grant, Ulysses S., corruption in 
cabinet of, 16; appoints civil 
service commission, 16. 

Greenback party, 27. 

Greenhut case, 126. 



Hamilton, Alexander, views of 
government contrasted with 
those of Jefferson, 7-8; opposed 
to democracy, 9; leader of Fed- 
eralists, 12; 30. 

Harlan, Judge, on need of corpora- 
tion control, 47 ; dissenting opin- 
ion of, in Standard Oil and To- 
bacco cases, 156. 



INDEX 



369 



Harmon, Judson, candidate for 
nomination for President, 40; 
vote for, in Democratic National 
Convention, 1912, 42; loses sup- 
port of Tammany Hall in Dem- 
ocratic National Convention, 43. 

Hayes, Rutherford B., 153. 

Hepburn Act, 119. 

Hillquit, Morris, quoted on failure 
of socialist communities, 95. 

Hoar, Senator, 20. 

Hoboken, 334. 

Home Rule, 167. See also Munici- 
pal home rule. 

Honest Ballot Association, 211. 

House of Governors, 165. 

Housing problem, 348-349. 

Houston, 301. 

Hughes, Charles E., governor of 
New York, 61 ; reforms of, 62-63. 

Huntley law, 203. 



Idaho, mothers' pensions in, 255. 

Illinois, 18; 76; initiative in, 235; 
child labor in, 246. 

Illinois Central Railroad, 17. 

Income tax, in Wisconsin, 56; in 
nation declared unconstitution- 
al, 145; constitutional amend- 
ment on, 145; decision of Su- 
preme Court on, 160. 

Industrial Commission, in Wiscon- 
sin, 56-57. 

Ingram method, 199-200. 

Inheritance tax, in Wisconsin, 56; 
in Iowa, 61; in U. S., 177; rela- 
tion of national to state tax, 178. 

Interborough Rapid Transit Com- 
pany, 354. 

Initiative, 24; in Arizona constitu- 
tion, 38; in California, 67; in 
Oregon, 67; favored by Prohibi- 
tion party, 104; 197; explained, 
214-215; purpose of, 215; uses 
of, 215-216; number required to 
call election, 216-217; Maine law 



cited, 216; Ohio law quoted, 216; 
Oklahoma law quoted, 216-217; 
filing petition for, 218-219; 
Maine law quoted, 219; election, 
220-221 ; governor's approval 
unnecessary, 221; advantages of, 
221-223; disadvantages of, 223- 
228; operation of, in Oregon, 
224-225; states having, 233; 243: 
244; 273; 300; 315; 317. 

Inland waterway commerce, 180- 
181. 

Interlocking directorates, 134. 

Interstate Commerce Commission, 
created, 20; original powers of, 
115-119; report quoted, 117; ad- 
ditions to original powers of, 
119; railway rates and, 181; 208. 

Interstate Trade Commission, 
urged by President Wilson, 131; 
problems of, 132-133. 

Iowa, 18; 54; Cummins' work in, 
60-61 ; mothers' pensions in, 255. 

Irrigation, 183. 



Jackson, Andrew, 13; 16. 

Jefferson, Thomas, opinion on ex- 
tension of governmental powers, 
6; views of government con- 
trasted with those of Hamilton, 
7-8; not present at Constitu- 
tional Convention, 9. 

Johnson, Hiram W., governor of 
California, 63; reforms of, 63-67; 
nominated for Vice-President by 
Progressive party, 85. 

K 

Kansas City, home rule in, 288. 
Kentucky, child labor in, 246. 
Knight case, 126. 



Labor Reform party, 28. 

La Follette, Robert M., district- 



370 



INDEX 



attorney of Dane County, 5-4: 
elected to Congress, 54; opposes 
corrupt influence in Wisconsin, 
55: supports Haugen for gover- 
nor of Wisconsin, 55; nominated 
for governor, 55—56; elected gov- 
ernor, 56; progressive legislation 
in Wisconsin obtained by, 56-57 : 
opposes tariff revision, 73; can- 
didate for Republican nomina- 
tion for President, 76; supporters 
of withdraw, 77; analyses vote 
cast for Roosevelt in Republican 
National Convention, 82. 

Land grants, 17. 

Lincoln. Abraham, 13. 

Lobbying, law regulating, in Wis- 
consin, 56; law regulating advo- 
cated by Governor H. S. Pingree, 
58; law regulating advocated 
bv Governor Albert Cummins, 
61. 

Lockport, city manager plan for, 
310; 311. 



M 



Maine, initiative in, 216; 219; refer- 
endum in, 230. 

Marshall, John, 12. 

Marshall, Thomas R., 42. 

Martine. James E., 39. 

Maryland, child labor in, 246. 

Massachusetts, early constitution 
of. 10; 18; 20; special legislation 
in, 282. 

Massachusetts ballot, 196: denned, 
210; advantages of, 210; 273. 

McKinley, William, nominated for 
President, 33; reelected, 35. 

Michigan, 54; Pingree's work in, 
57-60; 76; mothers 7 pensions in, 
254 ; 255 ; municipal home rule in, 
287; 294-295. 

Milwaukee, 334. 

Minimum wage, 162; purpose of, 
257; states having. 25S; objec- 
tions to, 258-261; 273. 



Minnesota, railroad commission in, 
18; mothers' pensions in, 255; 
municipal home rule in, 2^7; 
291-292. 

Missouri, mothers' pensions in, 
255 ; municipal home rule in, 287; 
288; 289. 

Mobile, 286. 

Money question. See Bimetalism. 

Money trust. 135. 

Monopolies, the Sherman Act and, 
129-131. 

Morgan, J. P., 42. 

Mothers' pensions, 162; theory of, 
253; states having, 254: to whom 
paid, 254; age-limits, 254-256 
amount of, 255 ; state laws cited 
254-256 ; conditions of granting 
25-5-256; Ohio statute quoted 
255-256; objections to, 256-257 

Municipal home rule, 279; states 
having, 2S7; restrictions on, 288 
299: 319. 

Municipal ownership of street rail- 
ways advocated by Governor 
H.~S. Pingree, 60; 352; difficul- 
ties in way of, 353-357. See 
Government ownership. 



N 



National Association of Transpor- 
tation and Commerce, 17. 

National Child Labor Committee, 
24S. 

National Conservation Commis- 
sion, established, 52; report of, 
52-53; opposed by Congress, 53. 

National conventions, methods of 
electing delegates to, 149-150; 
proposed modification of, 150. 

National Progressive Republican 
League. 70. 

National Short Ballot Organiza- 
tion, 310. 

National Silver party, endorses 
Bryan, 33. 



INDEX 



371 



National Training School for Pub- 
lic Service, 337. 

Nebraska, mothers' pensions in, 
255; municipal home rule in, 
287; 295-296. 

New Haven Railroad, 123. 

New Hampshire, mothers' pensions 
in, 255. 

New Jersey, 38; 40; 123; 165; 166; 
mothers' pensions in, 255; 256. 

Newlands Act, 183. 

New Mexico, 229. 

New York Central Railroad, 123. 

New York (City), 136; 152; 193; 
207; 211;277; 286; 299; 328; 334; 
345; 346; 352; 354; 359. 

New York (State), 20; 54; Hughes' 
work in, 61-63; 79; 88; 123; 149; 
150; 165; 166; workingmen's 
compensation act in, 237 ; special 
legislation in, 283 ; classification 
of cities in, 286. 

Non-partisan primaries, 300; 315. 

Norris, George W., introduces res- 
olution in House to revise com- 
mittee on rules, 74. 

North American Federation, 96. 

North Carolina, early constitution 
of, 11. 



Occupational diseases, 262. 

Ohio, 40; 76; initiative in, 216; 
mothers' pensions in, 255; mu- 
nicipal home rule in, 287; 295- 
296; 297. 

Oklahoma, 38; initiative in, 216; 
217; municipal home rule in, 
287; 294. 

Olmsted, Frederick Law, 345. 

Oregon, 54; political experiments 
in, 67-68; corrupt practices act 
in, 203-205; registration in, 211; 
initiative in, 216; 224-226; refer- 
endum in, 230; mothers' pen- 
sions in, 255; municipal home 
rule in, 287; 293. 



Oregon Conservation Commission, 

226. 
Oregon System, The, 224. 
Owen, Robert L., 38. 



Paine, Tom, 6. 

Parcel Post, 122. 

Parker, Alton B., Democratic nom- 
inee for President, 36; temporary 
chairman of Democratic Nation- 
al Convention, 1912, 42. 

Payne-Aldrich tariff bill, 175. 

Pennsylvania, 123; mothers' pen- 
sions in, 255 ; 281 ; 282. 

Pennsylvania Railroad, 123, 345. 

Philadelphia, 76; 277; 281; 334; 
344. 

Philippines, issue in campaign of 
1900, 35. 

Pinchot, Gifford, on conservation, 
51; head of National Conserva- 
tion Commission, 52; abandons 
La Follette's candidacy, 77. 

Pingree, Hazen S., mayor of De- 
troit, 57-58; governor of Michi- 
gan, 58; reforms of, 57-60. 

Pipe lines, not included under orig- 
inal Interstate Commerce Act, 
116; placed under Interstate 
Commerce Commission, 119. 

Pittsburgh, 282. 

Police power, 164. 

Political parties, failure to provide 
for, in federal constitution, 11; 
influence of, on voters, 72. 

Populist party, 28; endorses Bryan, 
33. 

Post office system, 122. 

Preferential voting, 300; 315. 

Presidential preference primaries, 
in Oregon, 67; operation of, in 
1912, 75-76; explained, 150; 
states having, 151. 

Progressive movement, definition 
of, 4-5; origin and development 
of, 5; periods of, in Democratic 



872 



INDEX 



party, 27; phases of, in Repub- 
lican party, 46-47; culmination 
of, in Republican party, 70; in 
Democratic, Republican, Pro- 
gressive, and Socialist parties 
compared, 89-90; history of, in 
Socialist party, 93; relation of 
Socialist party to, 99; in minor 
political parties. 100-101; in 
Prohibition party unimportant, 
102; 103; issues of, advocated by 
Prohibition party, 104 - 105; 
close connection of Prohibition 
party with. 10S; first of reforms 
advocated in nation by. 113; 
government ownership and. 120- 
121; 123; control over banking 
corporations advocated by, 134; 
emphasizes need of government- \ 
al control, 140-141; second of j 
reforms advocated in nation by, 
142; does not seek to abolish | 
representative government, 143; 
aims to abolish nominating con- 
ventions, 150; favors direct elec- 
tion of President and Vice-Presi- 
dent, 151: favors widest pub- 
licity of debates of legislative 
committees, 156; favors recall 
of judicial decisions that declare 
a law unconstitutional, 160; 
third phase of, in nation, 162; 
position on extension of federal 
power, 164; favors non-partisan 
tariff commission, 175; proposes 
national inheritance tax, 177; 
relation of, to conservation, taxa- 
tion, and social relief in nation, 
186; in state and nation com- 
pared, 1S9; favors woman suf- 
frage, 190; aims to give majority 
control, 196; favors direct pri- 
maries, 197; favors corrupt prac- 
tices acts. 202; urges ballot re- 
forms, 206; favors Massachu- 
setts ballot, 210; proposes meas- 
ures of post - election control, 
213; advocates initiative, refer- 



endum, and recall, 214; advo- 
cates recall, 232; advocates re- 
call of state judges, 237; social 
phase of, in states most impor- 
tant, 244; minimum wage, part 
of; 257; proposes state insur- 
ance, 271; task of, in state plain 
and definite, 273; in nation, 
state, and city compared, 278; 
four phases of, in city, 278-279; 
second phase of, in cities, 299; 
social phase of, 341; advocates 
city plan, 342; proposes muni- 
cipal ownership, 352; proposes 
community use of community 
values, 357; favors social con- 
trol of recreation, 360; program 
of, in city, 363. 

Progressive party, formation of, 
84; first national convention, 84; 
nominates Roosevelt for Presi- 
dent, 85; platform of, S5-S6; 
vote of, in 1912, S6; analysis of 
vote of, 86-87; future of, 87-88; 
compared with socialist party, 
S9-90: attitude on tariff, 173. 

Prohibition, growth of, 107. 

Prohibition party, organized, 101; 
influence of, 101; suppression of 
liquor traffic principal issue of, 
102-104; national platform of, 
104; reasons for lack of success 
of, 105-108; split in, 106; close 
connection of, with progressive 
movement, 108. 

Proportional representation, 300; 
315; 316-317. 

Public Service Commissions, in 
New York. 62. 

Public Utilities law, in New Jersey, 
40; in Xew York, 62. 



Race-track gambling, law to pro- 
hibit, in Xew York, 63-64; law 
to prohibit, in California, 64. 



INDEX 



373 



Railroad and Warehouse Commis- 
sion, 18. 

Railroads, early investigation of, 
17; land grants to, 17; state com- 
missions, 18; bill to establish 
national commission, 19; Inter- 
state Commerce Commission 
Act passed, 20; taxation of, in 
Wisconsin, 56; Wisconsin Com- 
mission created, 56; regulation 
of rates of, in Michigan, 58; 
taxation of, in Michigan, 58-59; 
Southern Pacific in California, 
63-64; regulation of rates of, in 
California, 64; 67; policy of fed- 
eral and state governments with 
respect to, 115; government 
ownership of, 121; in cities, 
344-345. 

Railway rate regulation, in Mich- 
igan, 58; in California, 64; 67; by 
Interstate Commerce Commis- 
sion, 116-117; maximum rates, 
119. 

Reagan, representative from Tex- 
as, 19. 

Recall, 24; causes rejection of Ari- 
zona constitution, 38; in Cali- 
fornia, 67; in Oregon, 67; favored 
by Prohibition party, 104; of 
Supreme Court judges, 158; lim- 
itations of, in case of Supreme 
Court judges, 159; of judicial 
decisions, 159-160; 197; purpose 
of, 215; states having, 233; the- 
ory of, 233-234; operation of, 
234-235; percentage required, 
235; kinds of, 235-243; of judi- 
cial decisions that declare a law 
unconstitutional, 235-236; of 
judges, 237-238; of elective offi- 
cials, 239; use of, 241; of ap- 

• pointive officials, 242; advisory 
recall of federal judges and U. S. 
senators, 242-243; 244; 273; 300; 
315; 317. 

Recreation, 351-352; 360-363. 

Referendum, 24; in Arizona con- 



stitution, 38; in California, 67; 
in Oregon, 67; favored by Pro- 
hibition party, 104; 197; purpose 
of, 215; operation of, in Oregon, 
224-225; explained, 228-229; on 
constitutional amendments,229; 
in New Mexico, 229; operation 
of, 229-230; advantages of, 231- 
232; objections to, 232; states 
having, 233; 243; 244; 273; 300; 
315; 317. 

Registration of voters, 197; req- 
uisites of adequate system of, 
211-212; in Oregon, 211; 273. 

Refrigerating plants, not included 
under the original Interstate 
Commerce Act, 116; placed un- 
der Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission, 119. 

Republican-Democrats, 12. 

Republican party, 4; succeeds Whig 
party, 13; at the close of Civil 
War, 13-14; characterized as 
corrupt, 28; campaign of 1908 
37; special interests and, 37 
primary campaign, 1912, 41 
national convention, 1912, 41; 
corporations and, 46; conserva- 
tion and, 51-52; in Wisconsin, 
54-56; in Michigan, 57-60; in 
Iowa, 60-61; in New York, 61- 
63; in California, 63-67; in Ore- 
gon, 67-68; split in, over tariff 
revision, 73; primary campaign 
of, in 1912, 76; nominates Taft 
for President, 81; attitude on 
tariff, 173; tariff revision by, in 
1909, 175. 

Reserve cities, 136. 

Rhode Island, 20. 

Rochester, 286. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, nominated 
for President, 36; relation to cor- 
porations, 36; panic of 1907, 36; 
significance of vote for in 1912, 
43; a radical, 44; finds Sherman 
Anti-trust Act inadequate, 49; 
obtains Bureau of Corporations, 



374 



INDEX 



49; uses Sherman Law against 
Standard Oil Company and 
American Tobacco Company, 
50; unsuccessful in attempt to 
control corporations, 51; makes 
conservation national issue, 52; 
opposed by Congress in con- 
servation movement, 53; an- 
nounces candidacy for Presi- 
dency in 1912, 77; primary cam- 
paign against Taft, 80; defeated 
for nomination for President, 81 ; 
explains defeat, 81; nominated 
for President by Progressive 
party, 85; opposes corporations, 
113-114; Sherman Act under, 
126; proposes House of Gover- 
nors, 165. 

Rousseau, 6. 

Ryan, Thomas F., 42. 



S 



Safety Appliance Law, in U. S., 
118. 

Safety devices, not required by 
original Interstate Commerce 
Act, 118; in factories, 262. 

Schreiner, Olive, 192. 

Seager, Henry R., 260. 

Sherman Anti- trust Act, passed by 
Congress, 47-48; thought inade- 
quate by Roosevelt, 49 ; invoked 
against Standard Oil Company 
and American Tobacco Com- 
pany, 50; interpretation of, by 
Supreme Court, 51; provisions 
of, 125-126; suits brought under, 
126; a failure, 129; "unreason- 
able" read into by Supreme 
Court, 156. 

Sherman Silver Purchase Act, re- 
peal of, 29 ; passage of, 32 ; effect 
of repeal of, 32. 

Short ballot, 206-210; need of, in 
Cleveland, 206-207; methods of 
shortening ballot, 207-208; ad- 
vantage of, 209; 273. 



Sleeping-car companies, not in- 
cluded under the original Inter- 
state Commerce Act, 116; placed 
under jurisdiction of Interstate 
Commerce Commission, 119. 

Smith, Herbert K., quoted on 
water power, 182. 

Socialism, three stages of, 93; com- 
munity stage, 93; organization 
of communities, 94-95; labor or- 
ganization stage, 95-96; political 
stage, 96-97. 

Socialist Labor party, organized, 
97. 

Socialist party, vote of, in 1912, 1; 
87; effect of Progressive party 
upon, 87; compared with Dem- 
ocratic and Republican parties, 
89; compared with Progressive 
party, 89-90; formation of, 97; 
in Milwaukee and Schenectady, 
97; resemblance to Progressive 
party, 97-98; reasons for growth 
of, 98-99. 

Social legislation, in U. S. and 
Europe compared, 244-245. 

South Carolina, 311. 

South Dakota, mothers' pensions 
in, 255. 

Southern Pacific Railroad, control 
of California by, 63-64; 123; 
Supreme Court and, 160; 267. 

Special legislation, 283; prohibi- 
tion against, in constitution of 
New York, 283-284. 

Spoils system, 13; 16. 

Spokane case, 117. 

Springfield, Ohio, 314. 

St. Louis, 136; home rule in, 288; 
344. 

St. Paul, 344. 

Standard Oil Company case, Jus- 
tice Harlan quoted, 47; decision 
of Supreme Court in, 48; 51; 
criticism of, 128. 

State insurance, 266; compared 
with workmen's compensation, 
272. 



INDEX 



375 



Staunton, city manager plan in, 
309-311. 

Sulzer, William, 42. 

Sumter, adopts city manager plan, 
311; advertises for city manager, 
312. 

Supreme Court (U. S.), under Mar- 
shall, 12; decision of, in Standard 
Oil and American Tobacco cases, 
48; 51; interpretation of Sher- 
man Act by, 127; decision in 
Knight case, Standard Oil case, 
and American Tobacco case crit- 
icised, 127-128; declares income 
tax unconstitutional, 145; judi- 
cial amendments of legislation 
by, 156; judicial amendment 
of constitution by, 157; decision 
of, in Income Tax case, 160; 
in Southern Pacific Railroad 
case, 160; declares Employers' 
Liability Act constitutional, 171 ; 
declares law limiting hours 
of labor in New York unconsti- 
tutional, 237; on municipal home 
rule, 280-281. 



Taft, William H., nominated for 
President, 37; elected, 37; fails 
to carry out Roosevelt's policies, 
37; vetoes Arizona Statehood 
bill, 38; significance of vote for 
in 1912, 43; fails to control cor- 
porations, 51; speech at Winona 
on tariff, 69; primary campaign 
against Roosevelt in 1912, 80; 
nominated for President, 81; 
vote for, in 1912, 86; creates 
tariff commission, 173. 

Tariff Commission, established un- 
der President Taft, 173; abol- 
ished, 173; need of, 173-176; 
advantages of, 176-177. 

Tariff, revised by Democrats, 44; 
revised by Republicans, 68-69; 
split in Republican party over, 



73 ; non-partisan commission ad- 
vocated by Prohibition party, 
104; tariff commission estab- 
lished, 173; tariff commission 
abolished, 173; need of tariff 
commission, 173-176; advan- 
tages of, 176-177. 

Telephone and telegraph, not in- 
cluded under the original Inter- 
state Commerce Act, 116; placed 
under Interstate Commerce 
Commission, 119; government 
ownership of, 121. 

Teller, Senator, 33. 

Texas, municipal home rule in, 
287; 296-297. 

Tilden, Samuel J., 153. 

Timber lands, ownership by rail- 
roads in, 117; not included in 
Hepburn Act, 119. 

Trans- Missouri Freight Associa- 
tion case, 128. 

Treasury notes, 139. 



U 



Underwood, Oscar W., candidate 
for nomination for President, 
40; vote for, in Democratic Na- 
tional Convention, 1912, 42; 
tariff bill of, 175. 

Underwood tariff bill, 175. 

Union Labor party, 28. 

United Labor party, 28. 

Up River bill, 226. 

U. S. Steel Corporation, 267. 

Utah, mothers' pensions in, 255. 



Vermont, 18; child labor in, 246. 
Victoria, minimum wage in, 260. 
Virginia, 310; 313. 



W 



Wages, average, 246. 
Warehouses, not included under 



376 



INDEX 



the original Interstate Com- 
merce Act, 116; placed under 
jurisdiction of Interstate Com- 
merce Commission. 119. 

Washington (City), 76; 344. 

Washington, George, 12. 

Washington (State), 166; child 
labor in, 246; mothers' pensions 
in, 255; state insurance in, 271- 
272; municipal home rule in, 
287; 291; 297. 

Water-power, 182. 

Waterways, uses of, 180: as instru- 
ments of commerce, 180; neglect 
of. ISO: benefits of waterway 
commerce, 181; as sources of 
water power, 182; for purposes 
of irrigation, 183. 

Whig party, 13. 

White, Edward (Chief Justice) , de- 
cision of, in Standard Oil case, 51. 

Wichita, 308. 

Widows' pensions. See Mothers' 
pensions. 

Wilson, Woodrow, nominated and 
elected governor of New Jersey, 
39 ; favors Martine against Smith 
for U. S. Senate, 39; progressive 
legislation obtained by, 40; can- 
didate for nomination for Presi- 
dency, 40; vote for, in Demo- 
cratic National Convention, 1912, 



42; receives support of Bryan, 
43; nominated for President, 43; 
significance of vote for, in 1912, 
43; large amount of progressive 
legislation obtained by, 44; vote 
for, in 1912, 86; on control of 
corporations, 114; urges Inter- 
state Trade Commission, 131. 

J Wisconsin, railroad commission in, 
18; 54; 166; corrupt practices act 
in, 202-203; 205; mothers' pen- 
sions in, 254; 255; 271. 

I Woman suffrage, in California, 67; 
favored by Prohibition party, 
104-105; in Republican plat- 
form, 1872, 105; part of pro- 
gressive movement in state, 190; 
objections answered, 190-196; 
states in which it has been 
adopted, 193. 

, Workingmen's compensation, in 
Wisconsin, 56; 162; 165; 166; de- 
clared unconstitutional in New 
York, 237; 262; states having, 
269; theory of, 269; general pro- 
visions of, 269-270. 

■ Worthington, M. ML, 313. 



Young, Ella Flagg, 193. 



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conditions, the rapid progress and impulsive changes in 
present-day methods of trade and legislation become 
clearly outlined and intelligible." — American, Philadelphia. 

"The present volume is of suitable compass, and the 
treatment is such as to make it satisfactory as a text-book." 
— The Nation. 

"The book should be of value to English readers and 
students of economics, for unlike French and German eco- 
nomic writers, who have produced several histories of 
economic thought, only one has been written previously in 
English, and that is now out of date. Dr. Haney has 
made a distinct contribution to economic literature and 
one reflecting credit on American scholarship." — The 
Boston Transcript 



SOCIAL SCIENCE TEXT-BOOKS 

Edited by Richard T. Ely 

Problems of Child Welfare 

By GEORGE B. MANGOLD, Ph.D. 

Director of the School of Social Economy of Washington University 
Cloth, 8vo, J22 pages, $2.00 net 

Presents the principles of child welfare work in a systematic 
way. With this end in view the author has grouped his sub- 
ject matter under the following headings : The Conservation of 
Life; Care of Health and Physique; Educational Problems; 
Child Labor ; Juvenile Delinquency ; and the Dependent Child. 
Much of the constructive philanthropy of to-day must deal di- 
rectly with the child, the improvement of his conditions being 
the direct objective. Those problems which affect children in 
an indirect way, whether in the field of remedial or preventive 
philanthropy, are not treated. The questions of child welfare, 
however, are correlated. Under each separate problem are dis- 
cussed the causes and conditions thereof, the machinery of so- 
cial betterment, and the plans and program of improvement. 

Although the book is designed especially for use as a text in 
college courses on constructive and preventive philanthropy, it 
will also appeal to that growing class of men and women who 
in a systematic way are endeavoring to acquaint themselves 
with the various aspects of practical sociology. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York 



CITIZENS' LIBRARY 

OF 

Economics, Politics and Sociology 

Edited by Richard T. Ely, Ph.D., LL.D. 

Of the University of Wisconsin 

Each volume 12mo. half leather, $1.25 net 

"This has already proven itself one of the most fruitful among 
the different 'libraries' of the sort, in yielding stimulating 
books upon the modern phases of economic and social 
science." — Philadelphia Public Ledger. 

American City, The. A Problem in Democracy. By D. F. Wilcox. 
American Municipal Progress. Chapters in Municipal Sociology. By 

C. Zueblin. New Edition Preparing. 
Child Problems. By George B. Mangold. 
Colonial Administration. By Paul S. Reinsch. 
Colonial Government. By Paul S. Reinsch. 

Commission Government in American Cities. By Ernest S. Bradford. 
Democracy and Social Ethics. By Jane Addams. 
Economic Crises. By E. D. Jones. 

Education and Industrial Evolution. By Frank Tracy Carlton. 
Elements of Sociology. By F. W. Blackmar. 

Essays on the Monetary History of the United States. By C. J. Bullock. 
Foundations of Sociology. By E. A. Ross. 
Government in Switzerland. By John M. Vincent. 
Great Cities in America; Their Problems and Their Government. By 

Delos F. Wilcox. 



CI 



TIZENS' LIBRARY OF ECONOMICS, POLITICS AND SO- 
CIOLOGY (Continued). 



History of Political Parties in the United States. By J. Macy. 

International Commercial Policies. By G. M. Fisk. 

Introduction to Business Organization. By S. E. Sparling. 

Introduction to the Study of Agricultural Economics. By H. C. Taylor. 

^ligation Institutions: A Discussion of the Growth of Irrigated Agri- 
culture in the Arid West. By E. Mead. 

Jloney: A Study of the Theory of the Medium of Exchange. By David 

/ Kinley. 

Monopolies and Trusts. By R. T. Ely. 

Municipal Engineering and Sanitation. By M. N. Baker. 

Newer Ideals of Peace. By Jane Addams. 

Principles of Anthropology and Sociology, The, in their Relations to 
Criminal Procedure. By M. Parmelee. 

Progressive Movement, The. By D. M. DeWitt. 

Railway Legislation in the United States. By B. H. Meyer. 

Social Control: A Survey of the Foundation of Order. By E. A. Ross. 

Some Ethical Gains Through Legislation. By Mrs. Florence Kelley. 

Spirit u£ American Government, The. By J. A. Smith. 

Studies in the Evolution of Industrial Society. By R. T. Ely. 

Wage-Earning Women. By Annie M. MacLean. 

World Politics. By Paul S. Reinsch. 



PUBLISHED BY 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York 



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UBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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